This Velvet Rose
by ghostleaf
Summary: Kagome is the unwanted twin in her family. Kikyo, the favorite of the evil stepmother, uses and abuses Kagome until Sesshoumaru decides to step in to save her. (fixed the paragraphs)
1. You and I

Hello again. I really must stop starting fics before I finish others, but what can one do when one's muse hit's her upside the head?  
Mostly AU. Almost entirely AU, in fact. So it goes.  
  
Original Characters: Tsuma: The father of Kagome, Kikyo, and Manna Yatsuri: The mother of Kagome, Kikyo, and Manna ((Note: Other original characters, should I add any, are added at the beginning of each chapter))  
  
This Rose of Velvet  
  
Prologue: You and I  
  
A cloaked figure walked quickly and silently down the darkened street, the streetlights only beginning to turn on. It was Yatsuri Karimono. Her black hair was tied harshly back, the rest invisible underneath the hood of her cloak; the length couldn't be specified. Her blue eyes, characteristically colored like ice, were focused solely on the task ahead. Her brows knitted in concentration, and her ears were alert, as always. On her back, underneath the cloak, was a slight bulk, hinting at not very inconspicuously hidden weaponry.  
  
As she came into view of a popular, exclusive club, her pace quickened almost imperceptibly. Ignoring the door, she jumped from the ground to the bottom of the escape ladder. Why they chose a rundown apartment building for their playground, she'll never know. When in a group, stupidity seemed to overrule them.  
  
She stepped lightly on the roof, her breathing as regular as if she had just walked to the refrigerator and back to the TV. No sweat belied that the climb had taken any sort of toll on her body. She walked to the center right of the building, having already scouted out the roofing, and, of course, finding a skylight. They never seemed to get smarter; the law of evolution should be offended. Crouching on the edge, she watched them, massing, weaving in and out of each other. Bright lights flashed and danced, tricking the eyes of those who were not regulars to the everlasting party. A band was on a round, rotating stage in the very center of the room.  
  
Youkai. Along the sides of the wall, balconies lined the walls up to about nine or ten stories. More of them chatted on those, laughing, hanging over the edge, courageous in the face of their almost-immortality. Their youth. Fangs gleamed.  
  
Quickly, with much practice, Yatsuri scanned the room for her target. She whipped off her cloak in another soundless motion. She wore close fitting gray leggings, and a tank top of the same color. She had black leather boots almost to her knees. A bow hung at her side, arrows on her back. She grabbed a dagger from her boot, and stabbed a pane of window. The sound, which had been muffled up until that point, blasted into her face, momentarily surprising her and causing her to jerk her head back. The sound of glass shattering hadn't been, as she had presumed, heard in the ruckus. A few angry yelps came from the unfortunate youkai that had been standing under the window, but they probably thought a comrade had hit them over the head with a beer bottle. Immediately, a fight broke out. Although this held the rapt attention of those who knew the fighters, everyone else was accustomed to the sight and ignored it, only moving when the flurry of kicks and punches got to close to their champagne glasses.  
  
Nobody noticed the tip of the arrow that was pointed at the host of the party, the most famous demon in New Tokyo. Nobody noticed the miasma trail the arrow left behind as it sped towards its target.  
  
The shocked stillness when the weapon struck was to be expected, of course.  
  
Yatsuri left before they regained their senses and swarmed the roof.  
  
Later, Yatsuri walked calmly into the tavern, sort of disappointed that her appearance didn't cause at least one table to fall silent. Swallowing her childish emotion, she sat at the bar and slapped her palm on the surface to call the attention of the bartender. After he served her some delicate liquor with a pretty umbrella in it, she let her cloak fall back. Her hair, still tied in a slightly mussed ponytail, tumbled to her waist.  
  
Tsuma was gazing with a trance-like amazement at the woman that had sat beside him. Her very presence commanded attention. Her skin was a beautiful pale porcelain, her hair so dark it swallowed the light. Look at me, he thought, look at a beautiful woman and suddenly I'm a poet. He smiled wryly to himself and sipped from his mug.  
  
The man next to her turned to her. Yatsuri tensed reflexively from the sudden motion, but forced herself to calm down. He was anything but bad- looking; he was incredibly handsome, with light brown hair. His hair was cut just above the ear, parted in the middle. It moved whenever he did, swaying gracefully. His bright green eyes had laughter in them, and smiled with all the charm in the world at her.  
  
"Hi. My name is Higurashi Tsuma, but I hope we can get to the point where you may call me Tsuma-chan."  
  
Yatsuri carefully set down her glass. She did not permit herself to indulge in romantic flings, especially so close in time to a job, but...  
  
She nodded in acknowledgement of his speaking. "Karimono Yatsuri," she offered, relishing the delight that jumped into his eyes. They didn't seem to have much in common.  
  
But their thoughts echoed the other's. We are meant for each other, you and I.  
  
END OF PROLOGUE! Just be happy that I posted the first chapter as well, or you'd be incredibly unhappy. I hope, anyway. Next chapter jumps a generation and goes to the three sisters. Kagome and Kikyo, twins, and Manna, the eldest. Newest arrival: Fori, the stepmother. Yes, Yatsuri is dead, sorry. Had to, or else the rest of the story would cease to be! I really like her character, maybe I'll use it in another fic. You don't have to review if you don't want to; no pressure. But I like constructive criticism, lay it on me, baby! Flame like hell, but please not over insipid things like spelling something wrong or getting the respective names of the parents wrong. Maybe I felt like changing it, even if I don't know what they are... Happy reading! 


	2. A Page from a Thousand Scrolls

Am I on a roll or what? TWO chapters in one day! I must be crazy. But here we are, again.  
  
New Original Characters: Fori: stepmother of Kagome, Kikyo, and Manna Manna: Kagome and Kikyo's elder sister.  
  
This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter one: A Page from a Thousand Scrolls  
  
"Dearest Diary:  
  
It's me again. Me and Kikyo's birthday is tomorrow! I am so excited. We will be six, exactly. I am so very excited. And yet, I wish I wasn't so. Maybe it's my emotions that alienate me from my family. I cry every night, but silently, lest my cold-hearted twin hear. She would surely ridicule me, and just as surely tell Honored Stepmother of my unhappiness, resulting, as always, in the Punishment. When will Manna come to my rescue? Is it true, what I feel, that she cares not for me, but favors Kikyo as Honored Stepmother does? Oh, Mother, how I wish you were here."  
  
Sighing, Kagome put her diary away. Kikyo never wasted time with such frivolities, as her stepmother, Fori, was fond of pointing out. Although the spiteful woman liked none of the children, she openly favored Kikyo, and just as openly hated Kagome. With Manna, she was more or less uncaring.  
  
Manna. She was sixteen now, and as wise as anybody could be as far as Kagome could tell. Kagome worshipped the ground Manna walked on, and sought always to be in her sister's good favor. But Manna was indifferent to the silent pleas for attention. Manna never showed much expression or emotion anymore. But it was as plain as day to Kagome that Manna, no matter how hard the teenager tried to hide it, favored Kikyo as well. But Manna was kind, and pretended to like Kagome as well.  
  
Maybe it was because Kikyo was so much like her, as Kagome was so different from her. Kikyo was somber, silent, holier than thou and sure as hell not afraid to let you know. But Kikyo, if anything, didn't seem to care much about Manna at all. Or anything, for that matter. Maybe that was the reason Manna favored her over the endless smiles and easy tears that constituted Kagome.  
  
All three had been trained with the bow, but of course Manna was the best. The twins were evenly matched, much to Kikyo's disgust. Kikyo hated Kagome merely for being as good with the bow as she. Not proud. Kagome was not a prideful feature of the family. Nor was Manna, though she excelled in her studies like none other. Spotlight centered on Kikyo, and Kagome could never hope to bathe in its glow.  
  
Fori called Kagome down to dinner with as much disdain as she could muster. Her voice rang through the walls, and the flickering candlelight Kagome was fond of seemed to make the pictures wince and shrink away from the noise. Sighing, Kagome complied, not wanting to endure the insufferable silence of the once happy dinner table.  
  
She could hardly remember those times, when her mother had been alive. Her mother had died when the twins were two. Kikyo harbored no memories of her and didn't seem to mind. Kagome held on to every last detail of every last memory, back when Manna laughed out loud just like the rest of them, when Manna had loved the twins equally, since Kikyo was in as much good spirits as any other toddler, but she had her somber moments. Closing her eyes against the tears, Kagome willed herself back, back to the time when their father had the sparkling green eyes and mischievous smile, before the longing silence had taken place of the booming laughter.  
  
No one was quite sure how Higurashi Yatsuri had died. Her body was found, mauled, in the forest, poison dripping from the bloody masses of flesh and steaming as they hit the ground.  
  
Tsuma had rushed forward, picked up the body of his wife, and had cradled her, holding her bloody chest to his cheek, wailing. The acid had marked the skin of his cheek, arms, and chest, for life. The said skin was pock marked and angrily red all the time, as the itchiness plagued him and he could not stop scratching. His hair was gray. His eyes were a dull green, reminding Kagome of algae on stone. They didn't hold the playful glint anymore.  
  
Kagome entered the dining room, where the rest of the family had started eating without her. Hurt that they didn't think her important enough to wait for, she sat and hunched over her food like everyone else, eating with a single-mindedness that had come naturally to the family after the wedding of Fori and Tsuma.  
  
Fori was elegantly beautiful, as always. She had long, blonde hair and piercing violet eyes. The hair was up in a fashionable, complicated style. It was well known, even to the twins, that she married Tsuma for money. She had not been pregnant at all during the four-year marriage, nor had they heard the tell-tale signs of lovemaking. Fori was also clever, in the worst possible way, working for herself and only for herself.  
  
Tsuma married Fori to forget the happiness he had once shared with Yatsuri. If he had known his longing would increase with woman present, might he have forgone the wedding? Kikyo didn't think so, and neither did Manna. Tsuma was in too much pain to care.  
  
Kagome finished, then asked to be excused. Manna had long since been gone. Absently, Kagome wondered when she had left, was it when she was eating the ham or peas?  
  
"Wait, Third Child. I have something to discuss with you."  
  
Kikyo glanced up briefly. She delighted that Fori called Kagome Third Child. Meaning she was the last of them, the most worthless. Kikyo also loved to hear Kagome being reprimanded, as she was most likely to be. Kagome noticed that Kikyo ate deliberately slower.  
  
Kagome could not help but blurt, "My rightful name is Second Half Child!" Tears stung her eyes as she realized her mistake. Fori brightened.  
  
Kikyo had always held power over Kagome, because Fori liked her best. When Kagome was in trouble, she was little more than a slave to her twin. Fori was obviously shaping Kikyo to be like her, and the thought disgusted Kagome to no end. Kagome closed her eyes for a moment, fearing Punishment. It was always horrible, and it just got increasingly so every time. That would explain Manna's hasty exit. Manna, though she liked Kikyo better, was kind to both of them and would never purposefully cause Kagome pain. Kagome liked to imagine she saw pain in Manna's eyes as well when the Punishment was given.  
  
Fori's eyes glinted like a dangerous cat's. "You are as I say you are. For being insolent, you will be Punished."  
  
Kagome started to shake slightly, wondering if she would ever recover from the scars.  
  
When Tsuma was done, he sat silently, staring at the tablecloth. Slowly, he took out a scroll and started writing on it, as he did every evening.  
  
When Kikyo finished, Fori smiled without humor. Her teeth seemed to be filed into points in the dim lighting of the room. Kagome couldn't stop shaking.  
  
"Lesser Child, have you swept today?"  
  
Mute, Kagome nodded.  
  
"There was dirt all over the walkway! Didn't you see it?"  
  
Kagome's shaking increased.  
  
"There will be, of course, a Punishment for this. And a Punishment twice over for the outburst earlier. You will show me the proper respect, Worthless Child. I am ashamed in place of your mother, and I am infinitely pleased I do not have to call you of my flesh and blood."  
  
Blood. Kagome cast a wild glance at her twin, seeking help, but finding only pleasure in those cold, cold eyes. It had been Kikyo. She had kicked dirt all over the swept walkway. And Fori well knew it.  
  
Afterward, when the whip had been hung back up, Kagome crept to the room she shared with Kikyo. Wincing, she put salve on all the cuts, which was hard, considering all the lashes were on her back, and hard to reach.  
  
Kikyo walked in, quietly as always, menace hanging around her like a fine mist.  
  
"Little Sister," Kikyo called softly.  
  
Chin trembling, Kagome put her shirt back on, facing her twin, whose eyes contained the ice of Hell. The warm Heaven in Kagome's eyes faltered, gave way to tears. "Yes?"  
  
Kikyo's face screwed up in rage. She kicked Kagome's back savagely, causing Kagome to gasp in pain. Fireworks exploded behind Kagome's closed eyes, and, unbeknownst to her, she shook. The nerve endings all over her body went numb from the shock of the pain. Red, black pain.  
  
Kikyo spat in her face. "You will call me Mistress, Little Worthless Dirt! You are no more than dog fodder!"  
  
"Y-yes, my Mistress."  
  
Kikyo straightened. "Clean my room. Then you will come to me, and I will watch you as you use your toothbrush to scrub out the toilet. I have purposely not flushed after Honored Father left the bathroom. I will also watch as you use your toothbrush to scrub your teeth this night." She turned on her heel, head held high, and swept out of the room.  
  
Kagome pulled her Diary from the archives of the mattress.  
  
"Dear Diary:  
  
I was Punished again. One day, Manna will rescue me. I know she cares. She must. If only I could withhold my pain until then."  
  
END CHAPTER ONE! Okay, morbid, macabre, yeah, yeah. Sorry it's so blech and stuff, but it's part of the story. I'm sorry this was short too, but the second chapter is longer and... almost finished! Dun dun dunnnnnaaaaa! It will skip a year or so, and don't worry, Kagome stands up a little for herself and no longer submits to Kikyo's prematurely evil whims. But what happens when Kikyo goes crying to Fori? Next time! Happy reading. Please review, constructive criticism welcome always. 


	3. New Faces, Old Fears

I'll save you all the horror of my author's note! I'm too tired to get into it. ONWARD!  
  
This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Two: New Faces, Old Fears  
  
Kagome made the lunches with little care. Kikyo would complain no matter what she put in them; why bother? Shoving a ham sandwich into Kikyo's bag, she grabbed the tops of her bags and went into the hall, ignoring the long line of photographs. Any of Yatsuri were removed.  
  
Manna looked somberly into the camera in a black-and-white outside of the kitchen. She had escaped into the world four years ago, at eighteen. She was twenty-two now. The twins were almost thirteen.  
  
"Hey, brat, give me my lunch so I can get going already," Kikyo snapped from the door.  
  
Kagome listlessly gave her the paper bag. Having lapsed into an expressionless gaze long ago, Kagome was seldom the object of Kikyo's torture. She was too boring.  
  
Fori meandered into the room, not looking a day over twenty, as usual. Favoring Kikyo with a smile, she absent-mindedly shoved past Kagome. "Oh, Kikyo, darling, you look absolutely perfect in that ensemble!"  
  
Kikyo was dressed in something expensive; what it was, Kagome didn't care to know. Kagome was always dressed in shabby hand-me-downs and a thin coat. It was winter, and insulation was something Kagome felt she would never get a taste of. Even if she did, she might be too far gone to be able to use it by that point, anyway.  
  
"Okay, hop in the car, Lovey. ... Oh, you too, Third Child," Fori added with a slight wave over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve her keys.  
  
Kikyo entered the driveway calm and poised, nothing like what she was when alone with Kagome. She got into the front seat, as she had since kindergarten, and Kagome got into the very back seat of the van. As she had since kindergarten.  
  
There was a rumpling as Kikyo looked through her bag, then turned to glare at Kagome venomously. "I don't LIKE ham, you doddering fool! Worthless Dirt! THIRD Child, Ugly Child," Kikyo continued, snarling. "Give me your lunch."  
  
Kagome silently handed her her bag, not offering either comment or facial expression. After the lunch exchange, Kagome merely turned to look out the window, knowing that Kikyo would have taken all but the apple out of what- is-now-Kagome's lunch.  
  
"I get to see my boyfriend today," Kikyo said calmly, appeased. "You don't have a boyfriend, do you? You never will. You're ugly."  
  
Kagome leaned her forehead against the window, looking at a crack in the pavement, focusing on the cold seeping into her skin. She folded her arms over her coat, hugging it against her body as her self-hatred got to her. 'I forget how to cry,' she realized blankly. 'I haven't in so long....'  
  
Kikyo picked at her nails as she continued, letting her contempt freely into her voice. "His name is InuYasha. He thinks you're ugly, too. You dress funny, he says."  
  
'Of course I dress funny. I'm wearing your old clothes. Along with a few of Manna's.'  
  
"That's why you'll never have a boyfriend. You wear funny clothes, and you never do your hair. And you act weird, too. You don't talk to anyone. You're a Funny-looking Ugly Weird Child. Stupid."  
  
Kikyo's rampage was cut short by Fori opening the driver's door. Fori, too, had tired of beating on Kagome after the child had ceased to show emotions. As it was, her back was too mottled with scars to make much of a difference anyway. The stepmother slid into her seat, jingling her keys as she put them into the keyhole, brandishing her long, sculpted nails.  
  
"Kikyo, honey, have you any plans today?" she questioned politely, her voice sweet. Like cotton candy. Appear the beautiful flower, be the serpent beneath it.  
  
The somber pre-adolescent appeared bored. "Oh. Meeting with my boyfriend today."  
  
Fori looked into the rearview mirror, tangibly disappointed at Kagome's lack of response. "Sounds like fun! Too bad the Third Child can't get one, too. She's just too ugly."  
  
Kikyo nodded somberly, brightening as the school appeared ahead. Kagome shrunk into her seat as they neared her nightmare for the past six years. Kikyo had sure had fun in there with her. She had become something of a class joke, having to get up every two minutes to sharpen her sister's pencil like some sort of lapdog.  
  
Kikyo had insisted to the teachers that Kagome was mentally retarded, but standardized testing soon proved otherwise. Kagome was quickly promoted to the next grade level, leaving Kikyo behind. Fori said it was because she was abnormal.  
  
Deprived of her pencil sharpener, Kikyo took to torturing her sister at lunch and recess, making her run useless errands which Kagome would at first run fearfully, then, as time passed, with more and more apathy. She would go slower, meander even, which she would get Punished for at home.  
  
It just didn't matter anymore.  
  
"Get out, Thing," Fori threw at her, glaring at her.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Kagome slid out of the car for the first day of the year. She made a beeline towards the doors out of habit, walking with what appeared to be a laid-back stride but was in fact a tense battle of emotions.  
  
"Oh, my God! Your brother's transferring here from that Private School?" Kikyo squealed with horror at her boyfriend. She had heard quite a few horror stories about the brother from hell from InuYasha, and believed every one of them. "Wow, he's in eighth grade, huh?"  
  
Kikyo was in seventh grade... Which meant Kagome was in the eighth. Grimacing, she hoped that this terror-brother wouldn't be in her class. She had enough to deal with as it was.  
  
Digging in her pockets quickly, Kagome checked to make sure what she thought was her room was really her room before going INTO the room. Breathing out in relief, she entered timidly. No one was there, just the teacher. He was young-looking, maybe in his twenties. His hair was to his shoulders and pulled back in a loose ponytail. Ignoring his look of surprise, she lowered her head and made for the last desk.  
  
"Wait, wait! I knew the student's were shy, but really!" the teacher laughed heartily and nabbed her shoulder lightly to stall her, turning her towards him. "I'm Mr. Houshi. Miroku Houshi."  
  
Kagome braved a quick glance at him through her bangs. "Higurashi Kagome."  
  
His expression quickly transformed into one of delight. "Ah! The smart prodigal child! You seem to do VERY good work! Except..." he said as his smile faded into a half-smile, his eyes crinkling worriedly. "It also says you're not very social at all. Why is that?"  
  
Kagome shrugged, half to get his hand off her shoulder and half in response. Shying away from his touch, she merely hurried to the back of the class.  
  
"Wait! There's assigned seating! You're... hum, let me check... there!" he pointed to a seat in the very middle of the room.  
  
Paling considerably, Kagome stared at him. Slowly, she edged towards the prescribed seat and sat down gingerly, as if it burned her.  
  
Suddenly, Kikyo burst into the room, looking murderous. "Filthy Third Brat! You--" she noticed Mr. Houshi, who was currently staring at her in astonishment. "Excuse me Sir!" she added prettily, curtsying, then turned to Kagome, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her up. "This is just my sister."  
  
"Um, I noticed! You two look almost alike!" the teacher gushed enthusiastically, wondering at the rough treatment.  
  
Kikyo smiled at him heartstoppingly, then turned to Kagome with a spitting glare. "You Ugly Thing, you forgot to sharpen my pencils. Go sharpen them NOW, and I want them done before class starts. Bring them to my room, 6A." With that, she dumped about twenty pencils onto Kagome's desk and whisked out of the room gracefully.  
  
Sighing internally, Kagome rose and gathered the pencils, bringing them to the pencil sharpener, bowing her head to hide her blush at Mr. Houshi's curious look. Feeling his eyes boring into her back the whole time, she sharpened the pencils one by one, silent.  
  
Finishing in about ten minutes, she left quickly.  
  
Hurrying down the hall and turning into 6A, Kagome stopped in the doorway to locate Kikyo. Her twin was in the back, flirting with a young boy. Sighing externally this time, she strode quickly to Kikyo and held the pencils out in a fist. The boy looked at her blankly, then, remembering who she was, resumed his conversation as if she wasn't there.  
  
Kikyo snatched her pencils. "Took you long enough. Now get out of here; I don't want to be seen with you," she hissed.  
  
Kagome turned, muttering as she went up the aisle. "You're WELCOME," she murmured sarcastically, earning a shocked stare from all who heard her. Whispers echoed through the room.  
  
"She spoke! Did you hear that?"  
  
"Woah! She spoke! I thought she was mute!"  
  
"She might as well be, the way her sister orders her around like a little doggy!" this was followed by a couple of yips, which everyone was tittering at when Kagome finally exited the room. A paper airplane flew into the back of her head as she left, causing her to pause. After pausing, she hurried on, grabbing the airplane from her hair as she went down the empty halls.  
  
She quickened her steps, knowing she was already late. She ducked into the doorway of 13A as the room fell silent. It erupted into noise again, despite the fact that the new teacher was introducing himself.  
  
"It's that weird kid we were telling you about."  
  
"She doesn't talk at all. And her sister's always ordering her around like a slave. It's sad, really."  
  
They were all talking to this white-haired young boy of about fourteen, solemn and golden-eyed.  
  
Mr. Houshi swallowed as he looked at her, then, not sure what to do, merely gestured to her seat. "You may sit, Kagome."  
  
Sesshoumaru watched the new, shabbily-dressed child enter, her gaze to the floor. As she took her seat beside him, she looked up briefly, enough for him to see her eyes. What he saw startled him, causing his hand to twitch. He clenched it into a fist. She looked... broken. There was a whisper of a long-forgotten fire somewhere in the back of her blue eyes... but mostly there was a sense of defeat, loss... like she was nothing more than dead.  
  
She slid into her seat and looked at the desk, glancing up every once in a while to the teacher. She kept her hands either clasped in her lap or on her desk, and she sat absolutely still. Even Sesshoumaru fidgeted every once in a while, but this girl... she was... She was so still, so dead. She kept her coat wrapped tightly around her, as if afraid to let anyone see under it.  
  
The eighth graders looked at her with disgusted pity, like they would a crippled animal or something. She was either oblivious or used to it, for she looked neither uncomfortable or unhappy. She looked neutral. Calm.  
  
Kagome herself took one glance at the new kid's white hair and identified him. InuYasha's brother. 'Just ignore him. Maybe he'll leave me alone.'  
  
Lunch came. Students filed into the lunchroom or outside. Most went to a large courtyard for eating, while the rest occupied the cafeteria. Sesshoumaru kept an eye on Kagome, and followed her to a tree, where she sat and pulled out her lunch bag. She pulled her meager lunch (an apple) out of it and crumpled the bag, putting it into her lap to throw away later.  
  
"That's all you're eating?" he asked insolently, then, hearing himself, made his voice a bit gentler. "It's not very healthy." Okay, not a whole lot gentler.  
  
She looked up at him slowly, a flicker of surprise racing across her face before she just faded into a listless stare, blocking him out. For some reason, this just completely pissed him off. She was possibly the only girl in the school not fawning over him.  
  
"It's rude to ignore people," he snapped.  
  
She merely looked ahead, not responding at all to his tone of voice. With a jolt, he realized she was used to it. He had watched her at first recess, how her sister treated her.  
  
Kagome finished her apple and stood, brushing off her jeans. Pulling her backpack over one shoulder, she walked past the white-haired beauty. At the last second, he grabbed her shoulder. A flash of a memory stirred in her head, being beaten by an old fishing pole until it broke, grabbed by the shoulder, forced to the ground, eating dirt—  
  
Instinctively, she yanked away from him, turning to face him, her breath stopped as she felt that familiar pain in the back of her throat. Seeing his startled look, she came back to reality.  
  
Turning and running, she tossed her garbage into a bin and made her way to the other side of the school to sit and... and think.  
  
Sesshoumaru stared after her, letting his outstretched hand fall back to his side. He hadn't missed her look. It was... She had been terrified, in so much pain. When he simply TOUCHED her.  
  
'What did they do to her....'  
  
A/N Okay, the promised rebellion hasn't come yet, but it will. IT WILL! Happy reading! 


	4. To Touch

I REFUSE TO BE TIRED! I REFUSE! Must... write... good... story...! collapses Alright, alright, I'm being melodramatic. I'm not that tired. But I might as WELL be! School is horror in a bucket.  
  
This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Three: To Touch  
  
Kagome brushed her hair behind her ears. She was sitting on the grass, still damp from last night's rain, with her back to the cool brick of the school. The cold seeped into her body and she welcomed the numbing effect it had on her. Ahead of her was a fat tree, called the God Tree.  
  
It was beautiful. Old and gnarled, its branches extended to the heavens and its roots looked like some sort of Nature's Lay-Z-Boy. Kagome avoided sitting there, though. She didn't feel up to par enough to sit in the God Tree's roots, with how broken she was. As she had proved to that boy.  
  
That stupid boy. Why did he insist on talking to her? It's not like no one told him about her predicament! Why did he feel the need to go and converse with her?  
  
'Sigh. I'm getting mad at him for no reason. He probably wanted to see what was going on with the traveling freak-show, and I definitely freaked him out with my jump-at-a-touch routine. It's not his fault I'm so horribly malfunctioned...' her thoughts trailed off as her mind blanked, unfamiliar sounds creeping into her ears.  
  
She saw two delicate white shoes appear in the corner of her vision. Her muscles froze, her breath hitched. Staring straight ahead, Kagome kept her eyes fastened to the homely roots of the God Tree. "There was no need to run, you realize. I was simply attempting to converse with you," the boy stated smoothly, a condescending tone laced through his voice.  
  
He bristled as she did nothing but stare stonily ahead, unmoving.  
  
"What's your problem, girl? Did you go insane from the homework load or something?" he felt his voice rising and struggled to keep it under control. Clearing his throat nonchalantly, he looked at the huge tree in the courtyard and leaned against the brick wall next to her. "Anyway, whatever. Don't talk. I don't care."  
  
'I know you don't. Go away, now,' Kagome begged silently, letting her eyes close briefly.  
  
Sesshoumaru watched her face intently, seeing something like panic creep across her face when he made no sign of exiting. He enjoyed watching her squirm. At least she showed a reaction to something. Slowly, he lowered himself until he was crouching next to her, just looking at the tree. He felt her stiffen and almost smiled. "I wonder how old that tree is."  
  
It occurred to him that he didn't know what her voice sounded like. Would it be as broken as her eyes? Maybe she was mute, after all.  
  
"Judging by its size, it'd have to be quite a few centuries. Maybe even a thousand years." "...Five hundred," came a small, yet resonant voice from beside him.  
  
He started guiltily. Sesshoumaru had really gotten used to the idea of her muteness in the past minute or so, but he recovered enough to put on a polite tone. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Five hundred years," she said, louder. Although her voice was lower pitched than her shrill sister's, it held no inflection, no hint of emotion. Except maybe a constant sense of nervousness.  
  
"Oh. I see," he said slowly, looking at her from the corners of his eyes. She never stopped looking at the tree. "My name is Sesshoumaru, by the way."  
  
"I know."  
  
How aggravating. "May I have your name?"  
  
"You don't like yours?" she immediately quipped, then, seemingly horrified, silenced. Slowly, she crumpled in on herself, like a balloon deflating. Hunching over, Kagome hugged her knees.  
  
He sat fully, crossing his legs. "It's okay. I know yours, anyway." So she had some personality after all. You wouldn't have guessed it from her face or the way she stood. She was pretty, but made herself so unobtrusive she was automatically not noticed. Sesshoumaru wondered if that was a side effect of an abusive household. He'd have to ask a few subtle questions of his brother this night.  
  
Kagome sighed inwardly, letting despair settle over her mind like a cloak. She just hoped he wouldn't tell InuYasha or Kikyo of her insulting behavior.  
  
"InuYasha," Sesshoumaru said mildly as his half-brother passed him down the stairs.  
  
"Oy, what?" InuYasha responded crudely, eating peanut butter off a spoon. "I'm busy, pansy-ass."  
  
Sesshoumaru blinked serenely, unfazed. "Keep your foul language outside, brother. I have questions concerning your girlfriend. The fact that you're tainting our bloodline with her has me worried. Are you sure she's up to par? Can she be a leader? A strong person?"  
  
InuYasha swallowed his peanut butter, and, eager to get back to his video games, spat his information back unthinkingly. "Oh, yeah, she's been pushing that stupid weird-o sister of hers around since forever. Evil stepmother scenario or something, except in this case she's only evil to the weird-o. Woo-yee," he snorted, half of his mouth going up in a smirk. "Does that girl have scars are what? Kikyo made her show me. Made her get undressed and everything. Her back's totally mottled."  
  
Thank God for the teenager's need to gossip. Sesshoumaru nodded as if thinking, encouraging InuYasha to speak more. It never once occurred to the young boy that Sesshoumaru wouldn't immediately think Kagome a weird-o.  
  
"Dude, they used to whip her for everything. Like, she'd sweep the walk and Kikyo would kick dirt over it and insta-whipping," he smiled around his peanut butter. "Kikyo says I can screw her whenever I want to, too. Sort've gross, her being scarred and stuff, but you take what you can get and Kikyo ain't putting out, y'know? Heard weird-o's still a cherry, though... and I wouldn't want to hurt her or anything."  
  
'Heaven forbid,' Sesshoumaru thought sarcastically.  
  
"Anyhow... that video game ain't gonna play itself. See you, Sess." With that, InuYasha and the peanut butter was gone.  
  
'How disgusting...' he thought, now for the first time understanding the impact of the girl's wretchedness. How long had she been subjected to it? Since a young age, determining from her lack of drive to change her lot. You have to grow up in that sort of an environment to not rebel when it bit you in the ass later.  
  
"Kagome," her twin said idly, preening her fingernails. They were sitting on their beds. Although Manna wasn't living there anymore, Fori wouldn't allow Kikyo to move out of the room because she said she needed the now- vacant one. For what, no one knew. "InuYasha's coming in a few minutes. He's getting really pushy about sex and stuff, and I'm too young for that stuff, you know?"  
  
And he's not? Kagome wondered where this was headed, and felt a forbidding niggling in the base of her stomach.  
  
"You know?" Kikyo repeated, looking up at her twin. She wanted an answer. God. "Yeah."  
  
For once, Kikyo didn't make her refer to her as "Miss." "Good. I'm so glad you understand."  
  
'Understand what? What's she talking about now?'  
  
The doorbell rang and Kikyo leapt off of the bed and sauntered out. "He's here! Don't move a muscle, 'kay?" Kagome heard Kikyo's gum pop as she blew a bubble.  
  
Down the hall, the door opened. A murmuring of voices wandered down the hallway to Kagome's ears. 'I hope they don't make me undress again. That was embarrassing....'  
  
The murmuring drew closer, and she scooted to the head of her bed, sitting on her pillow. She folded her legs and hugged her knees, putting on a neutral expression as she saw their shadows pass the door, ahead of them. A herald to their presence, a silhouette of their greatness. Finally, Kikyo walked in, leading InuYasha by the hand. He was watching Kagome closely... a bit too closely for comfort.  
  
Inwardly, Kagome curled into a ball. Outwardly, she didn't move a muscle, simply stared at her blanket, wondering what was going to happen.  
  
InuYasha looked from Kagome to Kikyo uncomfortably. "You told her, right?"  
  
'Told me what,' she wanted to scream.  
  
Kikyo shrugged and favored her with a slight sneer. "Not really. I think she'll get the gist once you start, though." She started preening her nails again, filing at her index finger.  
  
The boy shifted from one foot to another, and tension mounted in the room. "I really think you should tell her, Kikyo...."  
  
Throwing her head back in disgust, she released her vice-like grip on the nail filer, letting it drop to the ground as she crossed her arms. "Oh, all right. Kagome, InuYasha needs a good fuck and you're going to be that fuck. Just lay back and sit still. I'm going to go get some juice," she announced, turning on her heel and tip-tapping out of the room.  
  
Kagome felt her insides freeze. The numbness she felt from the brick earlier that day balled up in her stomach and its icy grip fed its way up her spine and into her chest and throat. She registered in her mind that her mouth had dropped slightly open and her face was obviously shocked, the first emotion she'd shown in front of InuYasha.  
  
Which didn't make matters any better for him. She looked absolutely horrified. Terrified. Shaking his mind internally, he took a step forward. She was just a weird-o, after all. Besides, it's not like she'd refuse. When she didn't move, he strode to her bed in three long steps. The girl still didn't move. It was like she was stuck in that moment when Kikyo told her she was about to be fucked.  
  
Slowly, he reached towards her, and saw her start to tremble. When his fingertips brushed against her arm, she leapt up as if stung and, in a flash, was a good five feet away, on the opposite side of the bed.  
  
"Hey... what are you doing?" he ignored the way his voice stammered a bit, and focused on looking pissed. "Get over here."  
  
Stark white with terror, she shook her head. She shook her head. Shook it. As in, "no."  
  
InuYasha felt a hot, white dot of anger in the pit of his stomach. It's not like having sex with a popular guy like him was so sufferable! He was doing her a favor; she'd just as likely never have sex for the rest of her life.  
  
Eyes narrowing, he stepped towards her purposefully.  
  
Across town, Sesshoumaru couldn't focus on his homework. He knew exactly where his brother was. And what he was attempting to do.  
  
It wasn't his business. He shook his head slightly and tried to concentrate.  
  
Egad. He couldn't even do a simple math problem.  
  
'Screw it...' he frowned as the thought hit him. Slowly, he stood and looked at his homework a last time before heading out of the room to take a shower. 'It's not my business.'  
  
"No." It was barely a whisper. InuYasha had excellent hearing. And even he could barely hear it.  
  
Needless to say, it was the first time he'd heard her voice. She mostly never spoke, just did whatever Kikyo told her to wordlessly. If she was called upon to answer in class she would shake her head, say nothing. He felt his face contort into a sneer and watched her grow paler in fear. "Girl, I'd be doing you a favor."  
  
'God... I don't feel better about this, making her scared. Maybe try to butter her up or something,' he thought despairingly. He smiled softly and touched her hair, ignoring the way she flinched automatically from his hand. He made his voice low and intimate, leaning forward. "It will be okay. It won't even hurt. I'd be gentle. Very gentle...." He let his voice trail off suggestively as he leaned more towards her, working his hands around so he could pin her to his chest, so she couldn't run.  
  
Gathering up the remnants of her courage, Kagome did what she had seen on TV. When she had been allowed to watch it, that is. She swung her leg back, then upwards, bending her knee into his crotch with all the force she could muster.  
  
The girl was out the door before InuYasha even hit the ground.  
  
Only to be intercepted by Fori.  
  
Panic seeped into her brain, bit by bit. Fori wasn't supposed to get off work for hours. Kagome's mind worked frantically for an explanation.  
  
Kikyo... getting juice. There was a phone in the kitchen. She would have called. Kagome would be caught... and... Oh, God, Kikyo. How could you?  
  
Fori took one look at the boy crumpled up on the floor and grabbed Kagome by the hair, near the scalp, and yanked viciously. At just that moment, Kikyo turned out of the kitchen and into the hall. If she was surprised that Kagome was dressed, she didn't show it. She walked until she could see into the bedroom and stopped... on a dime.  
  
"InuYasha!" she cried out, her mouth dropping open as she rushed forward to help him.  
  
"Kagome," Fori snarled at the abused girl, wrenching on her hair. "How dare you treat guests like this?"  
  
Kagome became aware that InuYasha had almost basically recovered and was glaring at her spitefully. Keeping her tears at bay was the hardest thing she had ever done. After a near-rape, she didn't think she'd be able to handle a beating. Oh, God, please, no....  
  
"Sir, we will punish her this very night. I am so sorry that you were subjected to this injustice. Please accept my apologies," Fori fluttered worriedly, her voice sugary sweet. The honey in her voice directly contradicted the danger of her smile.  
  
"I'm alright... it's fine..." he muttered as he struggled to stand, Kikyo helping him.  
  
"We're going to go out, alright? Maybe back to his house to get him fixed up," Kikyo informed Fori briskly, leaving no room for argument.  
  
"Of course," the stepmother conceded, not missing a beat.  
  
Sesshoumaru stepped out of the shower in time to hear the door slam, amidst much cursing.  
  
"That little bitch kneed me! She kneed me! You said she would let me fuck her if you told her to! What gives, Kikyo?!"  
  
He felt himself still at InuYasha's short monologue, his heart almost stopping. The strange girl... who had seemed so broken... she had some fight in her after all, did she? He almost felt like smiling.  
  
'Only a virgin would risk losing everything for the sake of her virginity,' he thought smugly, storing this bit of revelation away for later. For now, he was eavesdropping on Kikyo.  
  
"Don't worry, Stepmother will take care of her."  
  
"Why'd you call her, anyway?"  
  
"I wanted to see that stupid brat sister of mine whipped again. I haven't heard her cry out in raw pain in a while, now. She's not fun to play with anymore." Kikyo laughed, a viper's laugh.  
  
Sesshoumaru didn't feel like smiling anymore.  
  
Whispers were set in motion at Kagome's arrival to school. The rumors rippled through the school like wind through a field of wheat, and by first bell everyone had caught a glimpse of her.  
  
She was limping, and one side of her face was bruised. She was bundled up in her coat per usual, so any underlying injuries were hidden. But you could tell simply by the way she walked. So gingerly. When a person bumped into her she grimaced in pain, and her eyes stung with tears.  
  
"Oh, my God..." she heard as she entered the classroom, ten minutes before class started. She looked up through one good eye and a swollen black one to see Mr. Houshi stand hurriedly, knocking over his chair and a few items on his desk in the process. He rushed over to her and knelt in front of her, looking at her face in horror.  
  
Kagome jerked her head away and covered her face with her hair as she stalked to her desk. When she had sat, Mr. Houshi was standing and looking extremely angry.  
  
"I will not stand for this," he muttered through gritted teeth, and promptly marched from the room. When he returned five minutes later, he looked remarkably calmer, as if some sort of heavy burden had been lifted.  
  
Good. Maybe the principal told him to leave it alone. Kagome didn't want trouble at school, too. Especially not with the teachers. Who knew what Fori would do then?  
  
Bit by bit, her classmates filtered into the room, silent and looking at her expectantly, as if waiting for an explanation. Receiving none, they sat in their respective places and murmured to each other, sneaking glances at her.  
  
Sesshoumaru came in last. Oh, yes, he had watched her limp into school. He had seen the way she cradled her arm protectively from the crowds. And he had seen the guilty looks his brother had sent her way. It looks like InuYasha had finally gotten over his anger and was moving steadily into remorse-mode. Sesshoumaru sincerely hoped he choked on it.  
  
Sitting next to her as prescribed from his first day here, he said nothing. He would wait until lunch.  
  
Lunch came, and Sesshoumaru found her by the tree, as usual... alone, as usual. He stopped next to her and leaned against the brick amiably, staring at the huge tree.  
  
She didn't move a muscle, but watched him warily from the side of her eyes. He peered closer, and noticed that her hands were shaking.  
  
From pain? Fear? Who could know? Sesshoumaru certainly wanted to.  
  
"So, how have you been?" he attempted, his voice silky, composed.  
  
She said nothing.  
  
Sighing inwardly, he decided to switch tactics. "I heard you kneed InuYasha in the crotch."  
  
She leapt up and stared hard at him, her breathing harsh with terror. Her hair, uncombed that day, settled in a nimbus about her face, and her arms were at her sides, shaking still. Kagome leaned on her back foot, preparing to flee. She started to move when he grabbed her.  
  
He went for her shoulder without thinking. When she hissed in pain, he immediately dropped his hand, ignoring the brimming of tears in her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry. I forgot," he murmured to the ground. "But don't leave. I won't get you in trouble."  
  
She stood still, edgy, like a rabbit. She was there for now, but ready to move at a moment's notice -- a disheartening fact for a person who actually wanted to have a decent conversation. Her lips were pursed, pale, as she scrutinized the God Tree bluntly, blinking the tears away.  
  
Kagome the rabbit.  
  
When he let out an audible sigh she jumped, and flicked a glance his way before looking at the tree again, as if he was unsafe to behold.  
  
"Look at me!" Sesshoumaru was surprised to realize that this strong, angry voice issued from his own self. "Stop looking away!"  
  
Startled, Kagome opened her eyes wide, and her mouth dropped open slightly. Finally, she didn't look scared; not a bit. Just shocked. Obligingly, she locked eyes with the young white-haired boy and stared deep.  
  
'He has beautiful eyes,' she realized slowly. 'I wonder why I'd never noticed before. Have I always been this blind?'  
  
Entrancing, he found, this girl who would bare her soul to one simply by allowing them to look into her eyes. Her sad, pained eyes. Her wise, innocent eyes.... Any person could get lost in those eyes of a perfect pale blue.  
  
He took a step forward, towards her. And so caught was she in his eyes that she simply stood. She was no longer weird-o, slave, or whipping girl. Just Kagome. And she hadn't felt like Kagome in such a long time.  
  
Sesshoumaru surprised himself by reaching up to touch her hair. Despite that it was uncombed, it was obviously well taken care of, and promised silkiness if brushed. He took another step forward, close to her, and they were chest to chest.  
  
He was tall. Kagome tilted her head to look at him, unsure of what he was doing. A flash of memory stirred in the depths of her mind, of InuYasha pinning her, cornering her....  
  
But this wasn't InuYasha. That much was plain to see. She wouldn't allow her sister's boyfriend to taint her thoughts.  
  
His hands were on her face, feeling her tears as they poured down each cheek. Kagome felt protected, cradled by those delicate, strong hands as they held her aloft, and those brightly golden eyes stared down at her in sympathy. Possibly even empathy. Possibly even... a sense of kinship.  
  
The young boy felt his hands on her face, and marveled at the smoothness of her cheeks, and the incredible moisture of those glistening tear drops. A realization hit Sesshoumaru; he was supporting her. If he let her go... would she be able to stand?  
  
He didn't want to test his theory, because his hands were on her face.  
  
His hands were on her face.  
  
A/N Wooo-eee. Damn InuYasha and his horrible URGES!! But Sesshy got some down-time with the great 'Gome-monster! Whee! This'll progress nicely. 


	5. Awaken

With no ado, here you are:  
  
This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Four: Awaken  
  
Kikyo flipped her passenger seat mirror down and pretending to put on lipstick so she could get a good look at her twin.  
  
She hated Kagome almost to a distraction. She had no idea why, really. Probably something to the effect of feeling less than a person because of her twin, the fact that her twin looked just like her; like she had something stripped away when Kagome formed next to her in the womb.  
  
Kagome seemed oblivious to her injuries. She stared out the window blankly, her dull listless gaze staring at the scenery without taking any of it in.  
  
Her coat was hugged to her front as if to protect herself, and she leaned against the window, taking comfort in the loss of the feeling on her forehead due to the cold. Her lashes fluttered to her cheek slowly, softly, and in that single blink the memories flashed in front of her.  
  
His hands were on her face. He was holding her up.  
  
Shutting her eyes almost desperately, she pleaded mentally. 'Don't let me go, Sesshoumaru. Don't ever let me go.' For she knew that if he did, she would fall. Possibly to never awake again.  
  
Sesshoumaru's hands were soft and gentle, contradictory to his callous demeanor. When she opened her eyes again, their gazes met once more. When she looked into his sweet golden eyes, she wondered at the suddenly-strong emotions she saw there.  
  
A friend, she realized. She had made a friend today.  
  
Finally, a friend.  
  
Kagome hadn't ever had friends. Kikyo had made sure of that much. She relished the feeling, held it to her so she could drink of its noxious scent. Cradling her heart to her breast, the youngest of a series of sisters found herself.  
  
Kikyo glared at the reflection of her sister's serene look. Snapping the mirror up, she folded her arms and contemplated angrily. She wanted to hurt Kagome again.  
  
She wanted to hear her scream.  
  
==  
  
He had done the unthinkable. He had willingly made contact with a weak human female, had put his own hands on her face and... and kept her standing. Frowning, Sesshoumaru wiped his bangs out of his face, only to have them fly down and settle there again. Kept her standing. Of course he had.  
  
He snorted indelicately. 'I would show this weakness to a female who... a spineless female who ignores me most of the time!' Sesshoumaru really had sunk to a new low.  
  
His palms didn't look any different, however. They sure felt different. He glared at his hands.  
  
"You traitors." The clawed fingers waved back at him delicately.  
  
A human school. His father had always told him the benefits of human education, but Sesshoumaru had never truly believed that he would be forced to partake in it. Of course, the humans didn't know he was a Youkai; he didn't go about spouting it, and InuYasha was ashamed to.  
  
InuYasha blinked at his brother, who was currently giving his hands a good, hard glare. He shifted his hands, which were holding a drink, and sipped. "Yo."  
  
Sesshoumaru started and flicked his eyes up to take in the other white- haired boy. "What do you want."  
  
"Depends. Whadda YOU want?"  
  
"The reason I'm forced to put up with the misfortune of being related to you."  
  
InuYasha stopped sucking on his drink and looked into the liquid, frozen in time. Sesshoumaru hadn't made that jab at him in a long time. Why, after that talk a few days ago, InuYasha had almost been hoping... hoping that they could go back...  
  
Screwing up his face in rage and an effort to hold back tears, InuYasha threw the glass on the floor, shattering it against the carpet. "You fucking... fucking pansy!" With that, he ran up the stairs to the sanctuary of his room, and Sesshoumaru looked after him listlessly.  
  
He didn't even get satisfaction from causing his brother emotional pain anymore. What was wrong with him?  
  
"That wasn't nice," rumbled a voice from behind him.  
  
The boy jumped guiltily, and lanced his attention at the doorway. He hadn't noticed the presence of another, so caught up was he in his emotional turmoil. When the voice registered and was recognized, Sesshoumaru stiffened unnaturally and turned.  
  
"What does it matter to you?" he spat with loathing, then followed his brother's lead and ran up to his room.  
  
A middle-aged man with white hair and golden eyes stood there, looking at his eldest with regret. He felt a small, tender hand land on his forearm and turned to face his wife.  
  
Hirano was a petite, pretty woman. She used to be the maid of the house; now she was the mistress of it. InuYasha was her child.  
  
What was worse was that InuYasha was only a year younger than Sesshoumaru, therefore Sesshoumaru undoubtedly knew that his father was having an affair with Hirano while he was married to Sesshoumaru's mother.  
  
His first wife, his first love... what a spitfire she had been. He truly had loved her, whether or not Sesshoumaru believed it. But when she died... he had been relieved, in a way, to be rid of her. She was temperamental much of the time, being a Youkai woman of high breeding.  
  
Hirano was human, and InuTaisho was sure that was the reason for much of Sesshoumaru's fury.  
  
"He will... forgive you, given time," Hirano said, but without conviction. "And me, too."  
  
When she had been the maid, Sesshoumaru had adored her. By accident, he had found out about her hidden child, and, not noting the appearances of the little boy, had played with him often.  
  
When his mother had found out about InuYasha from Sesshoumaru, he didn't know the reason for her sudden rage, and ran away from her. She scared him when she was angry. She had confronted InuTaisho, then run out of the house, her frenzy blinding her to the dangers of the outside.  
  
She had been hit by a truck. She died on impact.  
  
Sesshoumaru had eavesdropped on her final argument with InuTaisho, and understood. Finally.  
  
And he had never forgiven any of them, InuYasha included.  
  
==  
  
"Why hasn't the walk been swept yet?" Fori inquired calmly at the dinner table.  
  
Kagome felt her shakes start up, and bravely quelled them. "It has." Kikyo, no doubt, had sabotaged her work.  
  
"It doesn't look swept."  
  
Kagome felt her courage return to her in one foul swoop, and stood, overturning the chair she had been sitting on. Fori simply blinked in response, looking up at her calmly. Kikyo looked interested. "Maybe that is because Kikyo keeps kicking dirt back on it after I sweep it!"  
  
Her twin gasped in shock. No surprise there; Kagome had never stood up for herself before. Gathering her wits, Kikyo stood and faced Kagome challengingly. "That's a lie!"  
  
"It's not!" Kagome returned readily.  
  
"Enough," Fori interceded smoothly. Kagome deflated visibly. All of her courage left her to return to where ever it hid when she was being whipped. "Kagome, you know it's wrong to tell lies."  
  
Kagome's father simply sat there, staring at nothing. She knew better than to look for him for help, but she did anyway. Manna wasn't here anymore, no hope from her.  
  
Tsuma took out his scroll and started writing, his hand gnarled from the acid marks. His quill scratched on the paper, making Kagome wince. She forced an impassive look on herself.  
  
"For that, and the walkway, I'm afraid you'll have to be Punished."  
  
It was so hard not to shake now. The Punishment had increased in cruelty as time went on. Now, more often than not, it involved hammers and whips with broken glass on the ends. Sometimes, they strapped her to a wall and made her stand for hours.  
  
"Father," she whispered, knowing Tsuma could not hear her. She burst out of her seat and knelt next to him, looking up at his dull eyes. "Father!" Her cry was broken and sad, like a seagull's.  
  
"Kagome!" Fori said sharply, standing and looking, for once, angered.  
  
"Father! Please!" Kagome wept into his lap, then grabbed ahold of his hand and held it to her face, to her tears. "Help me!"  
  
She was wrenched away roughly by her hair. She screamed through gritted teeth at the pain, writhing. Fori dragged her across the room and threw her against the wall. Kagome hit it with her right shoulder, and screamed as her arm disconnected from the socket. She managed a look at her stepmother through her hair.  
  
Fori's perfect hair fell about her shoulders crazily, and her eyebrows came together sharply, creating rough furrows all down her perfect, elegant forehead, distorting her image horribly. Violet eyes held an insane glint as she advanced on Kagome. "This is what happens to bad little girls," she purred menacingly.  
  
Kagome cried brokenly into the carpet until Fori grabbed her by the hair again and dragged her into another room to commence the Punishment.  
  
Kikyo followed eagerly.  
  
Tsuma's hand had stopped writing. His mouth slack and open, he gazed ahead at the wall across from him. His lower jaw trembled as he started hearing his daughter's screams. He had become so used to them, so desensitized, he had forgotten.  
  
His eyes squeezed shut as he remembered Yatsuri. She had loved the children so much... if she could see them now...  
  
No! I won't think on it, he reminded himself. Slouching over his scroll once more, he started writing. He wrote a story.  
  
A happy story, with a happy ending.  
  
And tried to forget that his daughter lay, broken, on the other side of the wall.  
  
The screams fell down into whimpers, and finally, the night was silent, but for the scratching of an old quill on rough paper.  
  
A/N There you go. The rebellion. GASP. Tsuma almost came to! ALMOST! DAMN IT, TSUMA! 


	6. Preparations for Battle

This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Five: Preparations for Battle  
  
Sesshoumaru came to school early, and with two lunches. 'Why am I doing this?' he asked himself repeatedly, grimacing at the thought of being so caring and nice. 'Oh, well. Kagome, if anyone, deserves it.'  
  
The teacher was yelling into the phone when the young boy waltzed in.  
  
"I don't care who she is, I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in the homes of my students! It's wrong and... and disgusting!" There was a pause. "Which hospital? Meriku? Fine. No, I don't want a parent-teacher conference. No." With a curt "Goodbye," Miroku slammed the phone into its cradle.  
  
Turning around in his chair, he met Sesshoumaru's surprised gaze. "Oh, Mr. Sesshoumaru... please sit down." He waved wearily at desks.  
  
Sesshoumaru willed the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach away. He needed strength for this. "What happened?"  
  
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself over," was his response. Then, "But I've seen you with her at lunch... so, I'll tell you. But this should remain confidential."  
  
Impatient, Sesshoumaru fidgeted, his eyes narrowed at the teacher's back dangerously. "Tell me what happened."  
  
"Kagome..." Miroku turned around to look at Sesshoumaru again, his face drawn and haggard. "She's been hospitalized. Her family..." Before he could finish, the door slammed. Sesshoumaru was out of the room and running.  
  
'Meriku. Meriku. Meriku,' his mind chanted relentlessly as his feet pounded the pavement. He knew the hospital to be about twenty city blocks away. He could make it easily within twenty minutes, should he keep running.  
  
The problem was running at a slow enough pace to not attract human attention.  
  
"Kikyo! Kikyo, will you wait up!"  
  
Kikyo flipped her bangs out of her eyes and smiled prettily as she turned to meet InuYasha. He was slightly out of breath, and his eyebrows were furrowed from worry. "Yes, InuYasha?"  
  
"Is it true? Is it?"  
  
Her smile slipped fractionally, and her gaze became piercing. "Is what true?"  
  
"I heard from Atsushi who heard from Reiko who was listening outside the door of Kagome's classroom that Kagome's been hospitalized! Is it true?"  
  
Anger simmered in the pit of her stomach at the thought of her wretched sister, her sister standing up at the table and throwing accusations at Kikyo. Her sister beseeching her equally wretched father. And InuYasha! Worried? "Why?"  
  
"I'm worried, is why! What happened to her?"  
  
"You're worried about her?"  
  
InuYasha gave her a puppy-esque confused look. "What? No! No, Kikyo... I'm worried about you. Do you realize what could happen if the media gets ahold of this? It'll have to go to the government, who will have to take steps." He paused, grasping her shoulders. "If Fori gets incarcerated for this, the entire Higurashi family could get deported."  
  
Panic gripped Kikyo, its bony fingers wrapping about her lungs and squeezing. She jerked out of her boyfriend's grip and stared at him. "Deported? For that? But it's... nobody has ever stopped Fori before!"  
  
"I know... but if the public demands it, they may even behead her. Either way... you'll be away from me." His voice cracked on the last word, and Kikyo gave him a disgusted look.  
  
"Stop worrying about your own sorry hide," she snapped. "Come on. We have to get this to Fori; now."  
  
Sesshoumaru unsuccessfully tried to calm himself. If his blood boiled any more, he may just go demon on this woman. "Listen. You will tell me where her room is, and you will allow me to visit her immediately."  
  
"I'm afraid that's not possible," the secretary insisted primly, filing her nails.  
  
He reached out and wrapped the front of her dress about his fist, pulling her to him roughly. He managed to keep the demon at bay, just barely, but he knew his eyes would be tinged red at the edges. "Do you have any idea who my father is? InuTaisho."  
  
"R-room N-355," she stammered, her face pale in fear.  
  
He dropped her, and left her fixing her mussed hair. Speeding around a corner, he almost ran into a cart toted by a nurse. She yelled at him as he disappeared down the corridor.  
  
N-350. Sesshoumaru ran on.  
  
"I need to speak with Fori Higurashi," Kikyo demanded as she walked into a building, dragging InuYasha behind her.  
  
The receptionist looked up briefly, skimming down Kikyo's disheveled school outfit before nodding. "Certainly, Miss Kikyo. I'll buzz her immediately."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
He was outside her door now. 'I even feel foolish for running. Of course she's not going anywhere.'  
  
It didn't matter, of course. Kagome was hurt, and as much as it pained Sesshoumaru to admit it, he had begun to consider her very good company. Silence and all. It was as if her very presence calmed him.  
  
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped in.  
  
There she lay, beaten and broken. Half of her face was covered in bruised, and her cheeks and forehead were laced with cuts and scraped. He couldn't gauge the damage under her blanket, but it had to be quite sufficient for her to be in Meriku. The bags of liquid and machinery she was hooked up to beeped occasionally, causing Sesshoumaru to flinch.  
  
Before he knew it, he was over her, his shaking hands tracing the outline of her face, brushing her hair from her face, smoothing her brow. A scar traced itself from her ear down her neck. It disappeared under the blanket.  
  
Sesshoumaru didn't dare look under the piece of cloth covering her. Contenting himself with being near her, he sat down on a chair next to the bed and waited. After a few minutes, he gingerly removed her arm from the confines of the blanket and held her hand softly. Rope-burns circled her wrists, and the same bruises and cuts covered a good portion of her arm.  
  
Laying his head down on her bed, he held her hand to his cheek. There, he drifted into a shallow sleep.  
  
Yumiko straightened her slim white dress as she walked down the corridor. She checked in on every room as she passed them. N-355's door was open, however. 'Odd.'  
  
She opened it further, leaning in to survey whatever oddities were progressing in here. A head of long, white hair lay on the bed next to the Higurashi girl, and a delicate hand clutched at Higurashi's fervently. Yumiko felt her heart tighten.  
  
Higurashi, Kagome. A severe-looking blonde woman who looked to be twenty- five or so had brought her in. "She fell," the woman offered brusquely, her eyes daring Yumiko to argue.  
  
Higurashi had bruises covering seventy percent of her body, and cuts interlaced all the dark patches. Her arm had disconnected with the shoulder and had been that way for quite a while by the time she made it to Meriku. Her left hand was broken in four places, and both her knees had hairline fractures. Her right side seemed to have rug burns going from her shoulder blade to mid-thigh.  
  
The blonde had obviously been powerful, for the head-nurse immediately took Kagome and accepted the half-hearted explanation.  
  
What's more, Yumiko found as she looked through Higurashi's file, was that the girl had scars all over her body as well. Older scars, some ten years or more.  
  
'I wonder who that girl is,' she thought, then closed the door softly as she left N-355. Visitors weren't allowed at this time, and certainly not to that girl, and Yumiko knew she would be fired if her supervisors found out.  
  
And yet, she left that wing with her conscience feeling the best it ever had.  
  
"I see," Fori murmured. "I think I've enough power, and your father has more than enough, to cover this up quite nicely. Don't worry too much about it, Kikyo, dear."  
  
Suddenly, the phone rang. The blonde woman picked it up and answered with a sweet, "Fori Higurashi speaking." There was a long silence, and Fori's expression changed drastically to one of anger. "I specifically said she was to have no visitors!"  
  
"I thought she didn't have friends," InuYasha muttered out of the corner of his mouth.  
  
"She doesn't," Kikyo responded, frowning.  
  
"I see. I... I see. Thank you." Forced calmness fell across her features as she pinned InuYasha with a heady glare. "It seems your brother has paid my daughter a visit."  
  
InuYasha stood so quickly his chair fell backwards. Mouth agape, he stared at Fori unbelievingly. "He wouldn't. He wouldn't! He hates hu..." His eyes flickered to Kikyo. "He hates everyone." He shook his head, knowing that it couldn't be true. "Someone must be impersonating him."  
  
"No, she was quite clear on how he looked. It is Sesshoumaru," Fori said gravely. "InuTaisho's spawn, if he is indeed friendly with Kagome, could make this... difficult. Especially if he fights us. InuYasha, for Kikyo's sake, you must keep your brother quiet, and without alerting your father."  
  
Dumbfounded, InuYasha could do nothing but nod. Kikyo stood, now, and faced InuYasha angrily. "Your brother? That evil... thing you're related to?" Her cheeks turned pink from anger, and her mouth was pinched together.  
  
He offered her an apologetic look, although he knew he had nothing to apologize for. "I didn't know, Kikyo."  
  
"You had better make him keep his trap shut, InuYasha," Kikyo warned, then turned and stalked out of the office.  
  
InuYasha looked at Fori awkwardly, then followed his girlfriend faithfully.  
  
In the darkness, she was only aware of one thing.  
  
Hurt.  
  
Oh, Gods, how she hurt. All over. Deep down, she knew something was numbing the pain, but all the same she could feel the ache against her bones, like a rubber hammer beating into her again and again. Immobilized, she let out a small whimper, only to have the darkness swallow it up.  
  
Slowly, she became aware of a dim light ahead of her. Fighting her way towards it, she ignored the increasing pain as she threw herself out of the darkness.  
  
Her eyelids came open with much effort. Blinking made her want to wince; wincing made her wish she was dead. Turning her head, with much difficulty on her stiff neck, she became aware also of a small, hesitant warmth from her hand. Looking at her hand, she saw a familiar head of white hair laying next to her.  
  
Sesshoumaru.  
  
She tried to say his name, but could only croak softly. It was enough. His eyelids fluttered open like birds amidst sunrise, and his golden eyes immediately sought her blue ones. Regaining memory of the predicament, his eyes shot open as he shot up into a standing position.  
  
"Kagome!"  
  
Weakly, she smiled at him. Ignoring the throbbing discomfort that accompanied the effort, she smiled wider to make him more at ease.  
  
It didn't work. His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he looked at her. Slowly, his hands reached for her face, and feather-light touches flew over her skin. She leaned into one palm, her cheek coming into more solid contact with his skin.  
  
"Do you hurt?" The inquiry was soft, so soft she barely heard it.  
  
She nodded once. "Y... yes. I hurt." Her voice worked, to her surprise. "But the drugs calm it down a bit."  
  
"I won't let this continue." His voice was ragged, fluctuating wildly between calm and hysterical. "I'll make it stop. This can't keep happening."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I'll... I'll get my father to help me."  
  
=========================  
  
A/N  
  
Not a lot of action in this onnneee. But some loveydovey scenes, yay! 


	7. The Lines are Drawn

This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Six: The Lines are Drawn  
  
"Can I talk to you?" InuYasha's timid voice drifted into Sesshoumaru's room, and his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Yes. Come in," he commanded brusquely.  
  
"I heard you went to visit weir-- uhm, Kagome in the hospital today..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
InuYasha flinched as if struck. Folding and unfolding his hands rhythmically, he tried again. "That you skipped school and--"  
  
"What do you want, InuYasha?"  
  
The younger brother gazed into the glistening white hair of the elder. Mustering up what little courage he had when facing Sesshoumaru, InuYasha spewed the horrible inquiry out as fast as he could. "Are you going to help her?"  
  
There was a dreadful pause. Sesshoumaru put down his pencil with great deliberation, staring at the wall ahead of him. "...Yes."  
  
Something, most likely his last reservations, broke inside InuYasha. "Why? She's just a weirdo... If people find out about it, they could get deported... or put in prison, or... or... " Unable to get anything else out, InuYasha looked at his hands. "Kikyo said she was a whore... that she always stole her friends." He spoke quietly now, obviously unsure.  
  
"Kikyo lied."  
  
"She wouldn't!" InuYasha yelled, before he could help it. "She doesn't lie! You don't even KNOW her..."  
  
"I know what she does to Kagome."  
  
"Kikyo says she deserves it."  
  
"Kikyo's a liar."  
  
Clenching his fists, InuYasha took a step into the room, only to be confronted with an up-close of Sesshoumaru as he towered over him. Swallowing, InuYasha looked up at the face of his elder brother. "Kikyo said that--"  
  
"Kikyo said, Kikyo said!" Sesshoumaru mimicked spitefully, snarling. "I don't give a shit what sort of infallible pearls of wisdom you're rowdy little bitch is spouting off! Kagome is in the hospital with bruises covering seventy percent of her body, and scratches lacing them all together like she's some sort of fucking doily! Her kneecaps are broken! Her kneecaps!" Sesshoumaru stepped forward, jamming his finger into InuYasha chest.  
  
InuYasha, scared shitless, matched Sesshoumaru's steps with his own, backwards.  
  
"Her shoulder was dislocated and she has a black eye. What's worse is, when you tried to rape her they beat her, as well!"  
  
"It wasn't rape! Kikyo said--"  
  
Losing control, Sesshoumaru felt his hand pull upwards, resting at his ear for a split second before backhanding InuYasha down the hall. InuYasha flew considerably, smashing into a vase and mirror at the end. His feet were velvet night on the carpeting as Sesshoumaru followed fluidly.  
  
Stopping before his brother, Sesshoumaru leaned down and picked him up by the collar. InuYasha squirmed mildly, but was, for the most part, knocked unconscious.  
  
He pulled InuYasha close to his face, his lips pulled back to reveal long, deadly fangs. "Kikyo is a liar and a slut. Side with her, brother, and I will kill you."  
  
Dropped roughly on the shattered mirror, InuYasha watched his brother flow down the hall and into his room, his hair whispering slightly behind him as he moved. His tail had reappeared in his rage, and was wrapped about his shoulder haughtily.  
  
===  
  
Fori and Kikyo whisked into the hospital, an air of entitlement surrounding them like a dense fog. They were recognized and ushered immediately to Kagome's room.  
  
Kagome was sleeping. But not for long.  
  
Fori waited for the nurse to leave. She was obviously staying longer than she needed, and it took a rather pointed glare to remove her presence. When she had left, closing the door respectfully behind her, Fori strode the few feet to Kagome bed and grabbed her around the neck, hauling her upwards and into consciousness.  
  
Kagome let out a strangled cry as her stepmother's hands closed on her bruises. Struggling feebly, a mewling cry escaped her throat.  
  
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to, seducing that miserable Sesshoumaru Hizunuma!" the usually impeccable blonde gritted out. "If you think he'll come crying to your side, you've got another thing coming, you miserable waste of air!"  
  
Fear created white dots all over Kagome's vision as she attempted to grasp at Fori's knuckles. Breath was becoming scarce.  
  
Throwing her down onto her hospital bed disgustedly, Fori paced. Returning to the bedside, she leaned in and pointed a finger into Kagome's face, her dangerously manicured nails inches from Kagome's nose. "If you spill one iota of lies about your sister and me... if you tell anybody, or do anything I forbid, I will kill your father."  
  
Kagome's eyes widened in horror, and Fori cackled. "Yes, I'll kill him! Then I'll kill Manna. And no matter what you believe about me and my power-- " she gently brushed the pads of her fingers against Kagome's cheek, with something almost resembling tenderness. "-- I can do as I threaten."  
  
Kikyo leaned against the wall furthest from Kagome, and wasn't wearing the expected smirk. Instead, she looked worriedly out the window, her countenance troubled. "If you get us deported, Worthless... if you get us deported, I will strangle you dead," she intoned, inflection lost in her voice as she chopped out the words, even as always.  
  
"Believe her, Kagome," Fori murmured smugly, confident.  
  
With that, both women walked out, their heels clicking down the hallway contemptuously. Freed to breath once more, Kagome fell back into the depths of her pillows, sobs strangling her oxygen-greedy throat. Feeling tears run down her face but too weak to wipe them away, she wept herself asleep.  
  
For Kagome did believe. She believed both of them.  
  
===  
  
The phone rang four or five times before she gave in and picked up. "Hello?"  
  
"Sango."  
  
Surprised, Sango looked into the receiver curiously, wondering at the solemn tone in his voice. "What is it, Miroku?" The words came out rougher than she intended, but it didn't matter. "I'm not dating you. Ever!" she added, her anger coming back to her in a wave.  
  
"I'm not calling to ask for a date. I'm calling to ask for a lawyer."  
  
They had met at a multi-campus party a few years ago, when Miroku had been training for a career in education and Sango a career in law. Suspicious about his motives, Sango closed her refrigerator door, food forgotten, and leaned against it. "What for?"  
  
"There's a girl in my class. She's thirteen, in the eighth grade. She comes to school almost every morning covered in bruises, and recently she's been hospitalized. I have information a-plenty. I suspect severe domestic abuse." He paused. "On the first day of school, her twin sister came in and demanded she sharpen her pencils. I didn't think too much of it until I heard the students talking about her.  
  
"Sango, you have to help me help her."  
  
Biting her lip, Sango paused. She stood straight and looked about for something to help her make a decision. Breathing deep to calm herself for what came next, she spoke. "Shall we meet at the café?"  
  
The relief was apparent in his voice. "In twenty minutes, I'll be there."  
  
"See you then."  
  
She held the phone for a bit longer than normal as she pondered over what he'd told her. If they could get other students to testify, the case would be a strong one, even if it was based on gossip. The bruises themselves would make much of the deciding factor.  
  
Hanging up, she emptied her can of cola and walked down the hall to grab her jacket.  
  
===  
  
"Sesshoumaru!"  
  
He raised his head as he heard his name. The voice was his father's. The tone: angry.  
  
Without knocking, InuTaisho burst into the room, his face red with rage. "What did you do to your brother?"  
  
"He's not my brother," Sesshoumaru stated calmly.  
  
In a few short strides, they were abreast of each other. InuTaisho grabbed Sesshoumaru by the shoulder, squeezing it uncomfortably as his gaze bored into his son's. "Why did you do it?"  
  
"There's a girl at school named Kagome," Sesshoumaru said breezily, and InuTaisho stared, wondering what the hell this had to do with anything.  
  
Trusting his son to get to the point, he nodded.  
  
"She gets beaten by her stepmother and her twin sister. Almost every day. She comes to school bruised and cut by whiplashes. This morning she was hospitalized, with bruises covering a good portion of her body and bones broken. She was put on life support for hours before they trusted her lungs well enough to work on their own again."  
  
Impatient, InuTaisho broke in. "What does that have to do with InuYasha?"  
  
"He's dating her twin."  
  
InuTaisho felt his lungs stop for a split second, wondering if InuYasha knew about this Kagome's predicament. "That's not a good reason to hurt your brother."  
  
"No, it's not. The fact that he's sticking up for his bitch of a girlfriend is, as far as I'm concerned," Sesshoumaru added pointedly, his glare matching his father's. The hands on his shoulders tightened their grip momentarily before falling away completely. "He actually thinks Kagome is the one in the wrong. I'm trying to help her and he's getting in my way.  
  
"That aside, I have something to ask of you."  
  
Numbed by the onslaught information, InuTaisho just nodded.  
  
"Kagome is my friend. I want you to help her."  
  
InuTaisho felt his insides go a bit cold at that. He had been involved with the Yakuza before, and Sesshoumaru obviously thought he could pull some strings about his friend's situation. Yes, he was powerful, but only in the business world. "What's her stepmother's name?"  
  
"Fori. Fori Higurashi."  
  
"What?!"  
  
Startled, Sesshoumaru looked up at his father's face. InuTaisho's mouth had gone slack in surprise, his eyes widened a bit. "What is it?"  
  
"Fori... Fori Higurashi is..."  
  
"She's what?" Sesshoumaru was almost yelling by this point. "Fori Higurashi is what?" A sense of foreboding niggled at the base of his ribcage, and he breathed deep to dislodge it. The breath calming him considerably, he grabbed InuTaisho's large shoulders and looked up into his eyes. "What is it?"  
  
"She's... She is Youkai. And not only that... but she's become terribly powerful. Underground. They say she's using her husband's powerful name to elevate her to a high status in the Yakuza. Some are calling her the Black Queen. She had killed off her husband's first wife, Yatsuri Higurashi, a renowned Youkai slayer. And..."  
  
It could get worse? Sesshoumaru wondered numbly. He then wondered if he was so far gone into a sense of unfeeling to actually feel amusement over the irony. "And?"  
  
"I'll tell you later. We have to get downtown now."  
  
===  
  
Tsuma gazed at his scroll contentedly. He had created a perfect story about a princess and a prince, who lived a wonderful life in a beautiful castle surrounded by a forest in eternal spring. The princess gave birth to three children, two of them twin girls.  
  
They had lived happily ever after.  
  
===  
  
Kagome had a momentous decision to make, and her insides were jell-o when she thought of the consequences of either choice.  
  
Protect father.  
  
Or protect herself.  
  
IA/N. Christ. FORI'S A FRIGGIN' MANIAC! SHE KILLED YATSURI! Wake up, Tsuma! 


	8. On My Knees

This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Seven: On My Knees  
  
=  
  
Sango stared numbly at Miroku over her coffee. The steam started to make her uncomfortable and she lowered the mug. At a loss for what to do, she held it still, tapping her fingernails against the porcelain.  
  
It couldn't possibly be as bad as he said.  
  
"So she came to school in a coat every day. The fact that the other students didn't see her wounds doesn't strengthen the case any."  
  
Miroku leaned forward, his mouth set in a grim line she'd never seen before. "I've been asking a lot of questions at school lately. Surprisingly, there are quite a few who feel bad for the girl, and are quite willing to testify. No, they didn't see her wounds, but she was limping, for Chrissake. Someone bumped into her and she nearly fainted from pain." Sipping his coffee, he looked out the window vacantly, as if remembering, his eyebrows furrowed. "Her eyes are so sad, Sango."  
  
She swallowed painfully. She was not used to this man; she was used to the player she had met a few years ago, the ever-laughing irritant that wormed his way into your heart before breaking it in half. The seriousness marring his face now gave her considerable pause, to be sure.  
  
"Her twin is a haughty brat with a cruel face. I've never seen identical twins look so unalike in my life," Miroku continued when the silence continued. "She manages to pull a few cute faces to get her out of trouble, I've heard. Her teacher barely tolerates her, but apparently the principal is willing to do back-flips for her. Kikyo Higurashi. Sadly, I'm not authorized to look through her papers."  
  
"I'm sure her grades are mediocre, at best. A person like her is often caught up in the social aspect and doesn't pay attention in class," Sango murmured thoughtfully. She had always been a good judge of character, a skill she prided herself on. 'I wonder where I went wrong with Miroku. I can't believe I actually thought him to be a decent man.'  
  
"True enough, from what her teachers have told me. She manages B's, however, through intervention from the principal. I heard," he paused, leaning in closer. "That he is quite interested in Kikyo's stepmother, and yes, in the way you think I mean."  
  
"So we can't count on him to make a solid testimony."  
  
"We can trust him about as far as we can throw the fat bastard. No; we'll have to rely on the students, even though a judge and jury will find that evidence slanted at best. The teachers have made it clear that they won't risk their jobs for Kagome."  
  
Sango leaned back in the booth, rolling her head around to ease the kinks in her neck. Her mind was already quick at work for a way to build the evidence in Kagome's favor, highschool witnesses or not. "You said she had a friend at school. Tell me more about him."  
  
"Sesshoumaru Hizunuma? Why?"  
  
"Something tells me we'll be expecting help from his family. And something tells me we'll be needing that help desperately."  
  
======  
  
Sesshoumaru didn't even bother to look at the receptionist. He knew where her room was. The hospital was small and often full, so he doubted Fori would have made arrangements to move it. When he finally reached N-355, he paused before the door.  
  
'What will I say to her? I can't very well tell her Fori killed her mother, or anything about Fori, for that matter. She'll probably give in to her bitch of a stepmother if she became intimidated.' He sighed, loudly.  
  
"Oh, my. Young man?"  
  
He started, then turned on his heel. A nurse. "Yes?"  
  
"Uhm..." she got this confidential, worried look, like she was about to release taboo information. "The patient's stepmother is currently in there and... Well, it might be best to wait until she leaves before appearing..."  
  
Shocked into immobility, Sesshoumaru stared at the young nurse, who continued to look fretfully at her shoes. He glanced at the door, wondering what damage that bitch was causing in there. Stepping quickly, he moved towards the nurse. "Thank you, very much. Do you know where I may wait so that I may know when she leaves but not be seen?"  
  
She smiled then, warmly with that continued thread of worry. "Of course. Come with me."  
  
======  
  
Sesshoumaru slipped in scarcely a second after Fori left. Kagome, who had been looking out the window on the verge of tears, registered his presence a minute or so after his arrival.  
  
After waiting restlessly on the threshold of the room without acknowledgement, Sesshoumaru stepped further in and sat down on a chair next to her bed. Kagome looked away from him, using her bangs to shield her face.  
  
"Kagome."  
  
The simple utterance was enough to break down the mightiest of her defenses. Feeling her lips stretch into a horrible grimace, she cried. Hiccuping occasionally, she felt her chest expand with each sob, getting ready to explode in a mesmeric fury of emotional fireworks.  
  
Something in his throat wrenched painfully as he realized she was weeping. The force of it shook her from head to toe, and her arms were wrapped about herself protectively. Unthinking, he reached for her. "Kagome..."  
  
"I thought I could get out... I really thought I could!"  
  
Her voice startled him, washing over him like a thick tide of sand. He waded through it carefully and gingerly put his hands on her shoulders. They were bone-thin through the hospital gown, the bones frail. Sesshoumaru felt the deep, delicate beauty they would become when she grew into herself. "You can, Kagome! You can get out of this. My father is going to help you."  
  
"No, no..."  
  
"Yes. We went downtown earlier this day, and he has spoken to some of his associates--"  
  
"No! You don't understand!" This time, she was unable to keep her face concealed. Bringing her head up in spite of her tear-streaked face, Kagome looked at him in the eyes. His own widened in revelation at what he saw. 'You see, I am ugly after all,' she thought at him, although she knew he could not hear.  
  
Her eyes. Her sweet, dead eyes. He had never seen them so overcome with the emotion they nearly overflowed with now... an odd mixture of love and tortured betrayal. Fear.  
  
"They said they're going to kill my father if I go against them," she explained finally, closing her eyes to trap the tears in. Closing her eyes so she couldn't see his revulsion at her face.  
  
His fingers tightened around her shoulders subconsciously, and he released her quickly when she cried out in pain. "I'm sorry," he muttered automatically. Her father. Of course. The one thing she still felt a frayed, worn tie to, despite what he has allowed to happen to her.  
  
Her father. In many ways, he was as bad as Fori, if not worse, for where Fori was simply malignant, he was scared. Too scared to protect his own blood!  
  
"What has your father ever done for you?" Sesshoumaru didn't realize he was yelling until a passing nurse stared, wondering whether she should remove him from the hospital. He lowered his voice but it still held the force of a shout. "He has put you through a life of... he's despicable for allowing this to happen to you, Kagome. He is not worth your protection if you have not been deemed worth his in his eyes."  
  
Kagome stared in dismay at whom she considered her friend. How could he not understand the ties of blood? "He is my father and I love him," she stated quietly, her eyes narrowing in pity. "How can you not see that? He is worth my love no matter what he's done to me, for he does not know he does it to me. How can I hold him to what he is not aware of?"  
  
"He's bloody well aware of it, Kagome. No man could be so blind."  
  
"My father is so blind."  
  
"He is worth your freedom?"  
  
"He is worth my life."  
  
Sesshoumaru paced back and forth a few times before settling on leaning face-first against a wall. Something was slowly breaking inside him, and he didn't know what. He wanted to clutch at something in anger and clutch at something in love, and he wanted, more than anything, for Kagome to be happy. A happiness she had never known.  
  
His pride battled with something primal deep inside him, a feeling so engraved in him that he had never known it was there. The pride he had scarred himself with proudly, this new thing had been so omnipresent in his life he had failed to notice it. They battled in his chest for long moments, until his lungs were short of breath and his stomach was wrinkled and wretched.  
  
He would always be ashamed to say his pride won that battle, leaving him shaken and hollow in his ribcage. Something fell from him at that moment, and it had taken him much time of careful deliberation to lure it back inside himself.  
  
Pushing off the wall casually, he spoke into it. He couldn't bear to look at her.  
  
"Fine. Throw away your life for something even more worthless. I have no use for what you have become due to your lack of self-respect. Give yourself to Fori in exchange for something that is hers, and always will be."  
  
He turned slightly, so his profile was visible to her. He faced the door way now, and was thankful for it. "Wallow in your uselessness until it swallows you whole, Kagome. Your mother would be ashamed."  
  
And he walked out, silent and forsaken.  
  
======  
  
Of all things, she hadn't been expecting that. Not from Sesshoumaru...  
  
In spite of what she thought of herself, she had counted on him to say what it took to lift her spirits high again. Selfishly, she had expected this.  
  
'I am merely a shell of what I could have been,' she thought, lifting her face up to invisible rain she could only feel when she reached up with her awareness. She closed her eyes briefly. 'And yet I haven't the courage to end it for myself.'  
  
"I simply haven't the courage," she said aloud, throwing her face down into the cover of her hands as she screamed silently into herself, letting the echo shoot down her spine like a thousand electric waves. The pain covered her all over, burning away the image she projected to those around her.  
  
Gritting her teeth, she threw her head upwards once more, emitting a high, keening scream through them. The screech grew punctuated with sobs and eventually fell away into the darkness she knew was within herself now.  
  
Her life had never been too unbearable, until she met Sesshoumaru and became introduced to hope. The loss of hope left her groping, wildly, for something to fill the gaping wound it left in its stead. Spiraling away into herself, she sought shelter from what she knew could protect her from the ravages of this evil world.  
  
A world of her own, inside herself.  
  
======  
  
Sesshoumaru heard her scream, and almost turned back, to run to her, to comfort her and brush away her tears and tell her that everything would be okay. Almost.  
  
For the pride was there now, and it didn't allow it, for she had shunned him, though she probably hadn't known it. She had left him for the fragmented memories of a past ripped from her! Left him for the broken man that wouldn't protect his offspring. Left him, Sesshoumaru!  
  
He was outside when it ended. Her cry subsided, and he fell to his knees heavily, uncaring of the dirt he knew to cover the world. Allowing it to besmirch him, he took solace in the fierce wind blowing about him.  
  
On his knees, a small, silent part of him begged to something higher than he could comprehend, high enough to help him. To help her.  
  
On his knees, a small, silent part of him crumpled, beaten.  
  
On his knees, he renewed himself.  
  
==========================================================  
  
A/N end of chapter seven! A bit short, but poignant, yes? I'm inspired anew, now-- the mini-hiatus you have all suffered is ended, and a reign of happy ficciness has prevailed! Happy reading! 


	9. Unlisted and Listless

This Rose of Velvet  
  
Chapter Eight: Unlisted and Listless  
  
=  
  
"God DAMN it!" He punched his own bedding in self-disgust. In all his life, he'd never encountered such a nagging train of thought as the thought that stuck in his head today. No matter what he thought about, what he tried to do to distract himself, it all led to the same place.  
  
Kagome.  
  
Brushing his bangs back with a sigh, Sesshoumaru breathed in deeply through his nostrils. Father should be home any time now, ready to discuss the course of action. Apparently he had been sifting the locale carefully, trying to get the tiniest of information on Kagome and her stepmother.  
  
'I can only hope he has good luck,' Sesshoumaru thought wearily, allowing his bangs to get into his eyes once again. It was time for a haircut. Not that it mattered at this particular point in time. Once again, his thoughts strayed to the object of his near-obsession. His chest tightened in response to what had transpired that day; mostly in anger, but some in despair. He certainly hadn't MEANT to give her the "tough love" treatment, but as long as he had, he might as well see how it worked on her.  
  
For some reason, he didn't think it'd push her in the right direction. After all, she'd been dealing with "tough love" all her life; her natural reaction was most likely to draw herself into a shell.  
  
That goddamn shell he'd spent precious time wiggling into. Only to be shoved out again.  
  
His ribcage tightened painfully once more as he sought to control his breathing.  
  
'Miserable brat,' he growled to himself, his anger getting the best of him. Pacing the room, he thought rapidly to all the various things he and his father could do. There was the straight legal system, but he sure as hell wasn't interested in giving Fori a fair trial. There was grisly assassination duties, but if what his father said was correct and Fori had become this "Black Queen," there was few willing to cross her.  
  
Compromise was unappealing. InuTaisho wouldn't allow his immediate family to stain their hands in blood, so killing the bitch himself was out of the question. Calculating a Mob riot underneath Fori's nose and using it against her would be easy among the two Inu youkai, but it would take far too long to do Kagome any good. Fori would probably not allow Kagome to change legal guardianship, and her father was obviously useless.  
  
The trial seemed to be the only halfway decent answer, and the fact that it lied with a jury would make things difficult. There would be briberies on both sides, of course, and manipulation to scare off Fori's supporters.  
  
Sesshoumaru knew his father to be capable of all those things. The hard part was actually convincing him to do it.  
  
'I think he's regained trust in the legal system despite his experience, so I doubt he'd take a hand in making sure our case wins. So either the trial would go on for too long or Fori would win.'  
  
"I'll have to convince Father somehow," he said, unaware that he had said it out loud.  
  
"Convince me of what?" came a gruff voice behind him.  
  
'Damn! I hate it when he sneaks up on me,' Sesshoumaru thought irritably, then swallowed his pride and turned to his father. "What news?"  
  
InuTaisho seemed ready to pursue the "convince Father" comment, but dropped it as he recalled all the information he'd gathered. He brightened minutely, offering a smile of comfort. "I've found someone as interested as righting this wrong as you are. I've called them to a meeting here in about an hour. I'll convey everything I've found then."  
  
Sesshoumaru frowned. Someone else willing to fight for Kagome? He couldn't think of anyone.  
  
He frowned also because he was annoyed at his father's sudden mysteriousness. Was what he had found that shocking? It couldn't be any more shocking than what Sesshoumaru knew already. It came to mind that perhaps he should tell InuTaisho about Kagome's sudden change of mind. As he opened his mouth at his father's back, something held him back.  
  
Watching his father disappear down the hall, Sesshoumaru stared after him dispassionately before retreating back into his room. Perhaps it would be best to tell him that later.  
  
======  
  
When considering everything there was to consider, it amazed her to think that she had actually thought of giving up.  
  
'I do worry for Father," Kagome thought mournfully. 'But... in order to save Father I must save myself. I can't possibly protect him in such subservience, can I?'  
  
She knew she was lying to herself. But she was just desperate enough to risk it. Sesshoumaru had shown her true friendship in the short time she'd been with him, and had felt his pain when she'd refused his help that morning. But she'd changed her mind.  
  
His little exit speech had made her think, despite her intense emotional response to it. She simply couldn't continue in this role she'd been cast into. Sure, she could wait until she was eighteen, like Manna... but that was years from now. To think she'd be subject to all that torture and probably worse techniques in the years to come made her nauseated. Manna. Where was Manna?  
  
Probably far away.  
  
Kagome wondered if Sesshoumaru would withdraw his assistance, and felt slightly panicky at the thought. She should call him. Yes. She would call him.  
  
She attempted sitting up before remembering, painfully, that she could not. Sharp, lightning bolt pain swept through her body as she dropped back onto her stiff hospital bed again. Her teeth ground together as the last of it faded away to a dull ache. Blinking the tears away, she recalled the "nurse" button located at her bed.  
  
The nurse that came in was a kindly older woman, with laugh lines covering her face and warm brown eyes beneath her brow. "Yes, dear?"  
  
Kagome cleared her throat even though it hurt like hell to do so. "May I make a telephone call, please?" It sounded overly polite and hopeful, and as it came out she realized that Fori might have left instructions to refuse all attempts at contact with the outside world.  
  
But no, today was her lucky day.  
  
"Of course you may, dear. Here we are," the nurse said gently, handing her the phone from the far wall. The cord stretched between the two walls like so many miles of coiled springs. "What number shall I dial?"  
  
"Dial?" Oh, no. She didn't know his number! 'Of course I wouldn't. I'd never had any reason to call the guy.' "I'm... I'm not sure. Do you have a phonebook around here? Oh, I'm so sorry to be a nuisance," she added as the older woman blinked a few times.  
  
"It's quite alright. I'll be back with the phone book in a scant few seconds, dear."  
  
She clutched the phone to her chest with a relieved sigh as the nurse exited, her soft slippers scuffing along the tiled hallway softly. The wait seemed to go on for hours, and in such a room time goes by twice as slow as it seems to be. At a loss, she looked out the window, but didn't have much of a view from her bed. Looking at her medical equipment depressed her and looking out of the hallway hurt her eyes. The hallway was so bright it was scary.  
  
Soon enough, the nurse bustled back in with a phonebook. She started to set it on Kagome's lap, but thought better of it when she saw her condition. Instead, she put it on a chair near Kagome's bed and opened it a bit. "What would the name be, dearie?"  
  
"H... Hazunuma."  
  
The name didn't phase the nurse at all, despite Kagome's fears that it would. The old woman found the name well enough, but as expected with such a well-known family, the number was unlisted.  
  
Kagome all but deflated at the nurse's "Sorry, dear," but managed to hold up well enough to offer a thank-you smile at the woman before she left.  
  
'All I can hope is that he comes back.'  
  
======  
  
Fucking Sesshoumaru. He couldn't leave well enough alone, could he? 'Although, I guess technically the situation isn't "well enough," but-- what am I thinking? If Kikyo says it's right, then it's right! Kagome deserves this.'  
  
Somehow, the mental reassurance did nothing to relieve the guilt he felt. Pacing the cement worriedly, InuYasha stood in front of the Higurashi residence. It had never loomed so malignantly before. He recalled how he had left, in pain, after his attempt at the weirdo's cherry. Pained screams echoed after him as he left through the door, piercing cold and pungent through his pain and into his mind, damn near shattering it as he realized what was occurring behind him, just a few walls beyond.  
  
Kikyo hadn't even twitched. She had simply stared ahead, her eyes stony cold but her mouth curved in satisfaction.  
  
He hadn't known Kikyo to be cruel until that day.  
  
But still. Kikyo had told him all sorts of stuff about weirdo. How she used to beat Kikyo up when they were little, and kill her pets and such. The weirdo probably deserved what she got!  
  
"Kikyo lies!" Sesshoumaru's voice floated back to him, raised in anger, his cheeks pink-tinged with barely concealed passion. Righteous fury.  
  
"Damn!" InuYasha muttered to himself. And he continued to walk around in circles.  
  
"InuYasha?"  
  
He spun around, his breath growing light and breezy in apprehension. "Kikyo."  
  
She was pretty as always, the kind of pretty that promises great beauty in maturity. Her cheekbones were high and her eyes darkly brown. Lips so beautiful it made you want to cry.  
  
The resemblance between Kikyo and her sister wasn't so much uncanny as barely there. Mostly it had to do with how they bore themselves, but InuYasha thought that maybe it had to do with how skinny weirdo was. He remembered all the times Kikyo had laughed about stealing her sister's lunch, leaving her with barely anything.  
  
"What are you doing here?" her voice sounded surprised, but pleasantly so. You could taste the smile in it. She stepped down the few steps separating them and stood in front of him, smiling gently. You never really noticed how hard and mean her mouth could become from a distance.  
  
He looked from her to his shoes, and he knew his face appeared as unsure as his voice sounded. "Just to see you."  
  
Her eyebrows flickered inwards in thought but she shrugged it off, taking his arm.  
  
InuYasha let Kikyo lead him inside their house. It rose above them like an especially cruel vulture. He was loathe to enter, but he did so anyway. Albeit with great reluctance.  
  
So deep in thought was he that he had scarcely noticed where she'd led him.  
  
Her bedroom.  
  
She'd refused him access before and after his encounter with the weirdo, always saying endlessly that "A girl's room was private," and he "had no use to be in there anyhow."  
  
InuYasha looked about in confusion, then at Kikyo. He goddamn near panicked when he found her as close as she was. Swallowing that horrid lump in his throat, he gazed down at her.  
  
She returned his look steadily as she slipped her shirt over her head.  
  
======  
  
She knew she wasn't ready to do this, but Fori had commanded she do so.  
  
"You must gain his loyalty now, Kikyo. Nothing enchains a man so effectively as sex."  
  
'I'm not ready!' she screamed to herself. Some masochistic part of herself reveled in her terror. 'Now you know how Kagome felt!'  
  
'She has no feelings.'  
  
It giggled. 'You know that's a lie.'  
  
'Leave me alone!' She took off her bra next, and before she knew it, was standing half-naked in front of a red-faced, panting InuYasha. Vaguely, she felt a brand new emotion: shame.  
  
Remembering Fori's instructions, she lifted InuYasha's hand to her breast. At first he touched hesitantly, afraid that she'd refuse him at the last minute. Then it grew into a hard kneading that made her want to slap him for his ignorance.  
  
But she let him.  
  
Soon they were on the bed, both naked. She lay prone beneath him as he thrust feverishly into her. It had hurt, partly because of his inexperience and partly because her hymen had been particularly strong. She knew herself to be bleeding from the blunt stabbing he was giving her.  
  
She winced in pain every time he drove into her. He, caught up so much in his excitement and the sensation, either couldn't hear or ignored her.  
  
It was over quickly. He had gotten dressed and left, embarrassed and flushed. How awkward he was.  
  
Kikyo curled up into a ball on her bed and squeezed her eyes shut, letting an unfamiliar self-loathing wash over her. The conversation they shared after the deed left her nervous, like a flighty deer.  
  
"Why?" he asked hoarsely, collapsed on top of her after.   
  
"Becau... Because I love you. Do you--" She choked on her words. "Do you love me, InuYasha?"   
  
The pause was lengthy. "Yes."   
  
"I'm glad."   
  
"... Kikyo?"   
  
"Yes?"   
  
"Can... Can we do this... again?"   
  
Here she squeezed her eyes shut, because he was lying in a way that he couldn't see her. She wanted so desperately to say no. "Yes, InuYasha. Wh... Whenever you... Whenever you want."   
  
And he had left, unaware of how she truly felt.  
  
Soon she would come to hate him.  
  
======  
  
"The princess had lost her white silk handkerchief. So pure and beautiful it was! She mourned its loss more than she had mourned anything in her life. Without it, she felt lost and vulnerable.  
  
She clutched herself in her tower, filled with fear at the great, scary world out there that would come to greet her now that she was without her beautiful pure handkerchief. Monsters and mayhem would come into her castle and scare her dreadfully, she knew.  
  
'Oh, dear, oh, dear!' she cried to herself as she looked out the window at the great sky she beheld. 'The world is so much bigger without my white handkerchief!'  
  
And so it was. So it was."  
  
Excerpt from "A Story," by Tsuma Higurashi.  
  
=  
  
A/N: Ooh, it's all coming together. In a few chapters this will be all done and I'll have to say bye-bye to it. ;; Noooooo! 


	10. Fruition

A/N! To the reviewer who mentioned that he didn't believe Tsuma made money off writing-- he doesn't. He writes stories to ease his own mind, and has never attempted selling one, nor do I think it would be bought.

This Rose of Velvet

Chapter Nine: Fruition

======

"Mr. Houshi?" His voice was hesitant, even to his own ears.

His teacher turned around from his seat on the couch to face him, a forgotten cup of tea in his hand. Beside him was a beautiful young woman in a crisp business suit.

Sesshoumaru stared back at them, obviously shocked. His father put a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. Shaking his father's hand off of his shoulder, he stepped down off the stairs elegantly and walked to the sitting area, sitting across from Miroku.

"Hello, Mr. Hazunuma," Miroku nodded, sipping from his tea delicately, obviously having no taste for it at the moment.

"Just Sesshoumaru out of school hours, please. Don't feel obligated to drink the tea."

"And I'll just be Miroku," the teacher nodded, setting down his tea. With his now-free hand he gestured beside him. "And this is the lawyer, Sango Miyuzaki."

"I had not… realized you'd be interested in Kagome's case," Sesshoumaru said carefully, his eyes slightly suspicious. 'What teacher would risk his job in such a manner?'

Miroku caught the suspicious glare in the young man's eyes, as did Sango. They exchanged glances, knowing what Sesshoumaru was thinking. Miroku leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "I realize it's against social protocol to think of 'rescuing' a student from household abuse, but I am new to the career and therefore am able to commit a few political errors.

"Kagome needs help, and as a witness I believe I will be strong in the case," he finished blandly.

Sesshoumaru's nerves eased a bit. The man seemed honest enough. And his father had probably had quite a few background checks on the man and found him worth their time, so he must be legit. At least to a point. He nodded once at Miroku, the looked to Sango.

She took up her cue immediately and stood, bowing. "Miroku called me, hoping for my legal assistance in this manner. Of course, it would be to your discretion…?"

"Of course," InuTaisho intercepted smoothly, cutting off Sesshoumaru's response before it could even begin. Ignoring his son's heated look, he continued. "I have contacted some lawyers before meeting you, and none were interested on being on our side. Allies would be acceptable and not uncalled for."

Sesshoumaru realized that Sango Miyazaki had probably had several background checks performed on her as well, and forced himself to relax.

Sango nodded and sat down, her hands in her lap. She possessed a dangerous stillness that even the Inu youkai envied. Her eyes were piercing and strong, and Sesshoumaru felt pleased by her help and her presence. He felt that the intimidation factor would be greatly assisted by Sango.

"Now that the formalities have been properly attended to, let us talk seriously about this matter," Miroku said, and the others nodded in agreement, leaning towards each other in unison to discuss their plans.

======

Frustration boiled in her stomach, causing her mental as well as physical unease. She tossed her head around on the pillow to make up for the fact that she couldn't toss her body. Her hair splayed about her like a pool of ink, dropping off the side of the bed. Kagome played with the idea that ink was covering the floor, spreading all over the hospital, black and sickly.

As she imagined it crawling up the walls to hang ominously over the patients, she drifted asleep…

======

"She tried calling me?"

The elderly nurse nodded. What was her name? Kaede. "She did. Your number was unlisted, Mr. Hazunuma."

Of course it was. Had it not been, calls would be coming in night and day. Chances were Kagome wouldn't have been able to get through the screening process they had been forced to put up. "Sesshoumaru is trying to keep me from being beaten within an inch of my life" wasn't a reason the secretaries regularly heard, and they would cut the line immediately.

Finding him silent, the nurse bowed and turned to escort him to Kagome's room. It was after hours, and the nurse had only let him in once he had told her who he was. His family was influential enough, and that was usually enough to scare off the people that attempted to hold them back from what they wanted.

On the way over, he thought about the discussion they had had back in the Hazunuma sitting room.

"Don't you think it would be best to call this from a legal standpoint? Take her to court, the whole nine yards?" Sango suggested warily, not too familiar with the illegal side of things.

"Fori's gained a hefty position in the Mob, Sango," Miroku reminded her. "It would be easy for her to turn the jury, the judge, everyone. She has that power."

"The underground couldn't possibly have that much power!" Her voice was raised in shock and indignation. Having spent her life working to be on a legal force, the mere possibility that the Mob could so easily influence it made her feel small and helpless. It was a feeling she wasn't fond of.

Miroku forced his voice gentler, seeing Sango's blooming fear. "It is, Sango. But the Hazunuma family could have just enough counter-power to even out the score enough to make the legal transaction legitimate."

Sesshoumaru glanced at his father uneasily. Did he still have the power?

His father returned his look with one of his own, and a nod.

As Miroku and Sango argued, Sesshoumaru leaned closer to InuTaisho and whispered. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. After the full immersion I suffered today, I am fairly confident. There are many who still support me in the Mob, without Fori's knowledge. Also, she is a cruel and moody leader. Those not in her current favor have come to hate her, and will work with me to overthrow her. Those in her favor are exceptionally powerful themselves, so I shouldn't wonder if I couldn't convince them to turn on her for a chance of their own for the proverbial throne."

"And they will wind up destroying Fori and themselves," Sesshoumaru finished, a small smirk coming to his features. "You know, father, I don't think I would mind terribly being in the Mob. The politics would be enough to fascinate me for the remainder of my life."

At this he got such a stern look from InuTaisho that he almost laughed.

Miroku and Sango had finally settled their differences and were sitting moodily, pushing against the sides of the couch so as to stay away from each other.

'Children,' Sesshoumaru sighed mentally to himself. Then he got both of their attention by snapping his fingers. "Here is the course of action I suggest. Father will once again become part of the Mob -- only to serve our purposes, father," he added when InuTaisho started blustering. "And he will work behind the scenes in forming the Mob against Fori and her underlings. The underlings I will take care of myself."

"Absolutely not!" InuTaisho roared, frightening both the humans on the couch.

"Father, you will be busy as it is. I am interested in the Mob for personal reasons, and in Fori's downfall for more personal reasons. I believe I will be beneficial to this. Besides, I want to be in direct control of what happens."

"No, Sesshoumaru." There was no room for give in InuTaisho's tone, causing Sesshoumaru to bristle.

"Father, I will do this whether or not you give it your blessing, so you might as well accept it and cooperate with me."

"We will discuss it later."

They had discussed it later, and Sesshoumaru's stubbornness had won out in the end. Rather that subjecting his son to the Mob's emotional force by himself, he was forced to concede and allow him to become part of the operation.

They had hashed out with Miroku and Sango what they prepared to do with the Mob, and where the teacher and the lawyer themselves came in.

"As we are turning the tides in the underground, I want you to spread the information about Kagome as discreetly as possible. We want public sympathy with us when this goes to trial," Sesshoumaru ordered.  "Sango, I want as few lawyers as possible available to take their case. Can you do that?"

"I can."

"Good. If the best of these circumstances occur, Fori will be forced into hiding due to the Mob's betrayal, and will only resurface to come to trial. We will have tails on her should she decide to 'vanish,' which I've no doubt she will attempt. We will force her to trial."

"But if she doesn't show up, then we would win easily," Sango interjected, frowning.

"I do not want her out there in the world. She seems the type to be petty enough to seek revenge on Kagome in the future."

"Ah, right."

"Miroku, the public sympathy should be enough by then, and I want you to find students or teachers who can testify against her. If word of her loss of power goes around, even the principal would be willing to go against her in court. I will work on witnesses, too, when I have the time."

"What of Kagome's sister?"

This gave Sesshoumaru pause. He hadn't considered her sister. "She cannot be convicted because of her age… and would probably not be. The court may simply decide that she is just easily influenced and blame Fori. But I do not want her out there, either."

"Student Exchange Program," InuTaisho said gruffly.

Sesshoumaru looked at him with some confusion.

"Without Fori to protect her, we can 'urge' her father to 'allow' her to attend a Student Exchange Program to another country. Once she's there, we can have her father drop legal custody of her, switching it to a contact I have in the United States. This contact, Naraku, I have known for a long time, and he is an honest man and a good friend. He has a wife and two children, and a strict household. Kikyo would be forced to drop any habits she's formed here, as well as cease any shenanigans she's planning."

"Naraku would be willing to take her into his home?" Sesshoumaru asked doubtfully, his eyebrows furrowing.

"I've already called him with the information on the situation. He is reluctant to expose her to his children, but willing to help us out. If need be, he will force her legal guardianship onto someone else once this is over."

Sesshoumaru leaned into the back of his chair, smiling to himself. It was all coming together. In a few days, he would debut into the Mob, careful to avoid Fori. He would probably have to take on a simple disguise and a new name, which, in spite of the gravity of the situation, would be fun.

"Here you are, dear," the nurse said, interrupting his thoughts.

He nodded stiffly at her and entered the room quietly, so as not to wake Kagome. She was lying still, but her eyes were flickering madly beneath her eyelids. REM sleep, also known as dreaming.

He sat down beside her bed and touched her cheek softly. If she was indeed in REM, simple touches would not wake her. Her chest rose up and down as she breathed.

"So… you tried to call me," he whispered, contented.

**_I could stay awake just to hear you sleeping… Watch you smile while you are sleeping, while you're far away in dreaming…_**

Sighing, he put her hand in his and squeezed softly. Laying his head down on her bed, he held her hand close to his cheek, breathing on it softly.

**_I could spend my life in this sweet surrender… I could stay lost in this moment… forever. For every moment spent with you is a moment I'll treasure…_**

****

**_I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep. 'Cause I'll miss you baby, and I don't want to miss a thing._**

****

Watching her sleep, he felt the first peace he'd felt since he was young, so young he could scarcely remember. It was while nestled in with his mother in bed, her soft hands holding him close.

**_'Cause even when I dream of you… the sweetest dream would never do. I'd still miss you baby, and I don't wanna miss a thing._**

****

**_Lying close to you, hearing your heart beating…_**

'Kagome… I'll save you, I swear.'

 **_And I wonder what you're dreaming… wondering if it's me you're seeing. Then I kiss your eyes, and thank God we're together. I just want to stay with you, in this moment forever…_**

****

**_Forever and ever._**

****

**_I don't want to close my eyes… I don't want to fall asleep. 'Cause I'd miss you baby, and I don't want to miss a thing. 'Cause even when I dream of you… the sweetest dream would never do! 'Cause I'd miss you baby, and I don't want to miss a thing…_**

****

'Kagome…!' Pulling her hand closer, her kissed her middle knuckle, unaware of the tear slipping down his cheek. Kagome stirred softly, her eyelids fluttering.

What was this sinking feeling? He felt like he was drowning. But in what, he couldn't say. His breath became short as he looked at her, and the desire to pull her close was overwhelming. This couldn't be mere friendship, this overprotective-ness, this _urge_.

======

_"Her eyes were soft, like cotton candy… How sweet they were, how lost and sad. The prince stepped forward to receive her tears. The princess gazed at him, and then she realized they were in love, the both of them… _

_She spoke but a syllable, and they came together in an embrace, forming the whole. It was so perfect the stars wept at the sight. Her long, flowing hair tangled in his hands as he held her close, so close but never close enough._

_Far away, a pearl danced in the sky, then fell down upon them, enveloping them both before settling in her womb…"_

Excerpt from "A Story," by Tsuma Higurashi.

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A/N: That's it for Chapter Nine! Since I'm cranking these out so fast, I'm going to go reward myself with a cookie. A PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE! falls off her cloud with peanut butter cookie in hand :D:D:D!

Hey Yuya… guess what.


	11. The Debut

Note to whomever asked what the partly-song fic song was in the last chapter… it was "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith.

And no, Naraku is not "evil," he doesn't even play a key role. He is simply there so I can put Kikyo somewhere when I'm done with her. And he's obviously a family man, if he's "reluctant to expose" his children to Kikyo. I'm sure he's had a shady past, but I don't know if it'll make it to the story.

This Rose of Velvet

Chapter Ten: The Debut

His debut had not gone as planned, but luckily it was still salvageable. He was impatient and that hadn't aided him in the end, but for some reason the Lady Luck was rooting for him. And who in their right mind disputes that sort of help?

It had started with a simple lie to immerse himself directly into the politics. Sesshoumaru was to play a servant, a messenger type, between two large business men in the underground. One of the business men was none other than Naraku, so Sesshoumaru did not think he would have to worry about his lie being unearthed. The other was the burly brother of Hiten Senzra, Manten.

Sesshoumaru was not particularly fond of Manten, but the oaf's stupidity gave him plenty of give when it came to the push and shove of an airtight alibi. Manten, for some reason, was interested in becoming a force of his own in the underground, independent of his brother.

Ambition is the core of the easily manipulated.

What small unraveling that had occurred happened when Hiten got wind of his brother's business with the infamous Naraku. Suspicious that a man so well known would seek out the idiot of the Senzra family, Hiten had put an ungodly amount of oily men on Sesshoumaru's proverbial tail. If that wasn't enough, at least ten had been dispatched to poke at his background.

Considering that at that moment his alias of "messenger" hadn't been _given_ a past yet, Sesshoumaru panicked. Fortune smile upon him, Naraku had gotten wind of it and had immediately notified InuTaisho and Sesshoumaru, and had given his old business associate's white-haired son a suitable fake background as well.

InuTaisho took great pride in the fact that Naraku was invincibly clever and imaginative. Naraku himself was also immensely proud of this, and although Naraku was a prideful creature to begin with, Sesshoumaru had to admit that he had sufficient reason to pat himself on the back.

The messenger's name was Rawn. Rawn had had a troubling past, complete with an abusive father and gang-related violence galore. Naraku became of his acquaintance through his daughter Kanna, as they both went to the same junior highschool. Rawn had been quite submerged in the teenage underground in America, and Naraku had formed dealings with him about illegal merchandise.

Rawn, having proven himself on numerous occasions and now a devoted lackey to Naraku, had been sent to Japan. The reason being that his age made him easy for international travel, as security had no reason to be suspicious of a fourteen-year old.

Naraku also dropped numerous hints about there being an arranged marriage between Rawn and Kanna to scare off any that might hurt him.

"Or so that's how it ends. Picking up here," Sesshoumaru mumbled to himself.

Hiten had only bought his story on account of intimidation factor from Naraku, and that wouldn't keep him from blabbing to his friends, and they would definitely try to keep on eye on him. Sesshoumaru thanked whatever Gods there were that Hiten wasn't involved with Fori.

Tucking his hair up into a courier hat, Sesshoumaru put on a green tweed jacket and faded jeans. Thrusting his delicately clawed hands into the tweed with more than a little disgust, he walked out of his front door and onto the street quickly, not wanted to be associated in any manner with the Hazunuma home.

It only took him about twenty minutes to get to the outskirts of an ugly, graffiti-covered town, the official marker of underground territory being a thin clothesline strung with small bones, human and animal, that hung from building to building like a lost communication line.

Lumps of people covered in dirty rags hovered anxiously about a fire in a large barrel. They were covered from head to toe and shivering. The coldest dropped to his knees and then sat, inches away from where Sesshoumaru walked. Had the city been of skin, they would have been marred flesh, scars telling of a battle between paychecks and drugs.

Wrinkling his nose in mild disgust, he walked further.

Turning down an alley on his left, he followed it to its dank, dark end. The wooden door to the right side was embedded in the brick sadly, like a fly caught. Light shone out from above and beneath the door, littering the garbage cans opposite with false shine. Sesshoumaru pushed on the door lightly and felt it give underneath his fingers.

It opened to a large room with round tables scattered all over, chairs even more topsy-turvy than their larger counterparts.

He walked in as if he belonged, which Sesshoumaru supposed he did, now. By now they'd all heard of Rawn, newspaper boy to Naraku. They all stared rudely, either unaware or uncaring that they were now _ill-mannered_ scum.

Their grins were mostly toothless and utterly bereft of charm. However, as he could not afford to be picky, he sat down next to what he had come to know as a "familiar" at this quaint alcohol-serving establishment.

"Kouga," he greeted as he forced himself to relax in what had to be the hardest goddamned chair in the entire world. The man beside him was cleaner than the rest, at the sweet age of sixteen and reeking of vanity.

Flipping his high ponytail over his shoulder, Kouga turned and grinned widely at him. His smiles had a feral look about them, yet they were endearing nonetheless. Sesshoumaru couldn't help liking the guy, even though he was impulsive and hot-tempered.

"Rawn! Did you hear the news?" Kouga spouted excitedly.

Sesshoumaru smiled quietly to himself. "I did not. What is it?"

Kouga always looked disconcerted when Sesshoumaru spoke, for "Rawn"'s speech was far too cultured to be normal underground. Sesshoumaru simply could not bring himself to use slang. "Dude! I heard the--" Kouga leaned in conspiratorially. "-- that a group has formed on the North side of the city… a group against the Black Queen herself!" Kouga shuddered dramatically. "Once she gets a sniff o' that, she'll go on a friggin' rampage!"

They both thought about that. Both had heard first-hand accounts of the Black Queen's emotional reactions, and they weren't pretty. Usually someone was killed, and it wasn't painless.

Unable to stand the silence no longer, Sesshoumaru turned to Kouga. "Who's behind it?"

"Not a lot of information about that. A handful of people, all plenty powerful and all plenty ballsy. I guess they're keepin' the names on the down low or somethin'."

That was good, at least. Finally, something goes right. "Will you be joining them?"

"Fuck no… do I look suicidal to you? I mean, I'm all for that stupid bitch being put in her place 'n' all, but my father works right under her. I'd be killed as a warning, probably."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Sesshoumaru declined the waitress's offer of beer. He waited until she had left earshot before continuing. "Your father isn't interested in taking her down? He'd probably make a much better leader…"

He hated lying to Kouga. Somehow, Sesshoumaru had started regarding him as a friend. But Kagome came first.

"Yeah… He keeps saying so," Kouga commented offhandedly. "He's torn between his fear of her and his desire to be in charge. I think he's just waiting, seeing what happens. If her other supporters turned against her he'd probably be among them, y'know?"

"Hm. Yes."

Kouga took a last gulp of his beer then stood. "Ready to hit the town, li'l man?"

Kagome held her hand before her face, her thumb and forefinger pressed together.

Between them, a long, white strand lay.

He had been here. Kagome cursed inwardly as she let the strand drop across her lap. She leaned back against the pillows awkwardly, sighing. Why couldn't she have been awake?

Still, it comforted her that he had even come in again after his outburst.

'I'm sure he's still mad at me,' she thought, a line creasing her brow as she frowned. 'But then why would he come? That means there's hope. That means there's something there… a true friendship.' She was quite sure of it; she had a solid friend. A great victory had been won, against Fori… against Kikyo… They had lost, partly.

The thought drifted to her chest and rested there comfortably. She quite liked the feeling of accomplishment. Although no doubt Fori and Kikyo wouldn't have cared… at least not as much as Kagome did. But still. Victory was victory, no matter how you dressed it up, no matter how you stomped it down.

Victory felt good.

"Oh, Kikyo…" InuYasha groaned into her breastbone. His breath ticked along her neck as he kissed up it….

His hands felt immature, fumbling and shaking. Pressing, squeezing… How could he not know it hurt when he grabbed her chest like that? The feeling of his weight on top of her made her feel sick. She turned her head to the side for fresh air, pressing her face through his hair to get away… Away!

The act itself was unbearable. He thrust wildly. Unlearned. Every time he drove in, up to the hilt, she winced in pain, felt the tears sting her eyelids, felt her throat close up as it tried to contain a scream. Her entire body jarred into the mattress when she did not move with him… and she couldn't force herself to move with him.

InuYasha felt lost in an ocean of pleasure, oblivion. Her thighs, her stomach, all of her felt so good against his bare skin. His body screamed in bliss, don't stop, don't stop! He buried his face in the crook of her neck as he felt himself nearing the edge.

The orgasm came in an earth-shattering instant, his muscles contracting desperately before utterly relaxing. Unable to hold himself up, he fell onto Kikyo's softness. Sweat slicked is stomach, lubricating. As the feeling left him he pulled himself up to her mouth and kissed her.

She let him kiss her. His fingertips fluttered across her arms, causing goosebumps in their wake. Ignoring the pain slicing up through her body, she tried to turn herself to stone. It didn't work.

He pulled out of her heavily, obviously reluctant to leave. He let his lips linger all over her, then dropped back to kiss her on the lips again. As her breasts brushed against his chest, he breathed in shakily.

Kikyo could barely stop herself from weeping as she felt him grow hard again.

Sesshoumaru was restless. Kouga kept going to low-grade parties… when Sesshoumaru wanted to go to the big guys… the guys with power. He wanted to talk with the ones in command, but as Kouga didn't know any, he had reached a dead end.

They were all doing coke, and dancing. The warehouse was abandoned, and lights had been set up everywhere and were flashing spastically. There were various sluts dancing on small stages. Some were on the dance floor, and it got to the point where you couldn't tell who was a whore and who wasn't.

Sesshoumaru declined the drug so many times that night that he figured "No, thanks" was going to be his new nickname underground. He had been given sultry looks from the sluts that he ruthlessly ignored. His eyes roamed about lazily, when they saw a new face to the scene.

He focused a bit on the subject. His breath caught in recognition. Kurina Senzra. She was the sister to Hiten and a one-woman powerhouse in the underground. She was Kurina's left-hand at the moment… She had been for at least three months now. Fori was well-known for changing her favor as quickly as her socks.

He had discarded the jacket and was left in ratty jeans and a tight tank top. It hugged his torso like an enraptured prostitute. Bringing his cap down lower on his forehead so she couldn't see his eyes, he leaned against the wall as if in boredom.

Relying on his magnetism was a longshot, he'd decided, but he couldn't approach her without her being suspicious. She wasn't beautiful by any standards, pretty, but not beautiful. It would be better if she came to him.

It didn't take long. Kurina saw him right away and watched him for quite a while. When he didn't move, she stood and walked over casually. She wore a low-cut, skimpy outfit that could only be described as a leather swimsuit that shrunk in the wash. But, she wore it well.

Sesshoumaru let his eyes drift over to her slowly, their gazes locking. He smiled slowly and raised an eyebrow minutely.

Encourage, she strode to him, finally standing in front of him. _Way_ inside his personal space bubble. He reminded himself that this was for Kagome.

"Hello," she said, her eyelashes fluttering a bit.

Sesshoumaru stood fully, looking at her with interest. So what if she mistook that interest for interest in her? Interest was interest. Even though he was only fourteen and stood only at five foot seven, he dwarfed her easily.

"Hello," he purred out convincingly. He could be a good actor when it was needed.

"Dance with me," she ordered, obviously used to getting her own way. She grabbed his collar with one finger and tugged lightly towards the dance room floor.

"With pleasure," he responded readily, allowing himself to be pulled along like an errant puppy. Inside, her bristled at the way he was treated, and promised to exact a personal revenge on all who considered him either a lowlife or a toy.

When they got to the dance floor, she pressed against him. He was male, and felt her body, and couldn't control the fire that swept through his blood at the contact. Barely managing to keep himself in restraint, he pressed back.

"I'm Kurina," she whispered, looking at him through her lashes.

"Rawn," he answered, looking at her as if she was the only woman in the world. And if you had asked him later, he probably would have said so… just for different reasons than she surmised. Made it easy enough.

"Sexy," she commented, then pressed into him again.

Later, they sat at a table. She ordered a fancy drink. He ordered water. She raised her eyebrows at his choice, then sipped her drink daintily.

"Like to keep yourself clean?" she asked, smirking to herself.

"In certain respects."

She grinned at that, biting her lower lip. Kurina, a woman of twenty-two and an adamant liver of life, was not one to miss innuendo. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness, they say."

"'They' would be correct."

"Where did you say you came from?"

"America. I'm a correspondent of Naraku's… I've also been asked to check things out, to see how things are developing underground in Japan. He doesn't seem too happy with what he's seen."

She frowned, not expecting the sudden seriousness of the conversation. Still, it intrigued her. "What does he not like?"

"He says that… this Black Queen is not a leader with vision. He feels there are ways to expand upon the underground, to make it more powerful in the city, and the Queen just isn't suited for the job."

Kurina looked ready to defend Fori, but he could see the doubt and captivation in her eyes. Sesshoumaru cut her off quickly.

"He's been looking for some other, more promising leaders to reinstate…" Letting the sentence drop, he sipped his water, forcing a look of thoughtfulness on her face as he looked at her.

The Senzra sister looked nearly breathless with anticipation. She sat up a little straighter. Her elbows rested in the table, and she folded her fingers together, leaning her chin on them. "And… am I on the list?" But he could tell from his face that she was.

"Yes," he said, smiling. "He thinks you have more leadership qualities, more astuteness when it comes to the business applications of this… entitlement."

She didn't say more, looking a bit fearful of eavesdroppers, but dropped back into her chair and sipped her drink slowly, thinking. Sesshoumaru felt himself scream in victory beneath his easy-mannered façade. He had gotten to her, had taken a great chance when it came to her loyalties. Obviously, being loyal wasn't prized when it came to a leader like Fori.

He masked his smile by bringing his glass to his lips for a sip.

A/N Done with this chapter! Whooo… seemed a lot shorter than it really was. It just kept going… the words seemed sorta forced… I may just come back to it and brush up on it. But! As I've kept you waiting too long, I'll give you it beforehand!

Happy reading, faithful readers!


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